The Golden Dragon's Rise Season 1
by Mechassault Man
Summary: The Little Sun Dragon. Yang Xiao Long. She was born a fighter. She was made a fighter. But can she actually fight well? Yang tries to fight by joining an underground boxing league. But can she actually make her way up through the ranks with the help of a long lost mentor? And can she without getting caught by her half-sister and father? Rated M for mature themes and language.
1. Boxing, Huh?

**The Golden Dragon's Rise: Chapter 1: Boxing, Huh?**

 **RWBY and it's properties belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. (R.I.P.)**

 **I only own my OC's.**

* * *

 **Boxing.**

 **Why was it so important to The Dragon?**

 **Well, She understood it. One of the only things she truly understood.**

 **"The Dragon", "The Firecracker," "Boob Girl." Didn't matter what they called her. She fought.**

 **And she won. More often than not. She did take a few crushing defeats. Some that she would not like to admit. Nor her trainer.**

 **Yang Xiao Long was her name.**

 **What would Yang become?  
**  
 **The Best.**

...

Yang Xiao Long was walking by herself one night. It wasn't normal for her to be doing this, but her dad let her for just this once. She was simply walking outside and back to her house with a few groceries. She had to do that now, since her mom wasn't around to do that, and her dad was too drunk or sad to even get out of the house sometimes. So, just this once, since her dad was too sad to, Yang was simply walking home, when she passed a few bigger, tougher girls who just moved into the neighborhood nearby. They eyeballed Yang, then began to whisper to each other. Then, they called out to the small blonde.

"Hey, there." One of the girls called out to Yang.

"Um..." A higher pitched Yang Xiao Long stopped herself from speaking any more. She didn't talk to strangers. Her dad told her that a lot.

"Look, we just need something from you." Another girl leaned down and smiled evilly.

Yang stayed silent.

"Ugh, listen, KID!" One of the girls grabbed Yang by her hair and yanked her into the air. Yang let out a loud shriek before being slammed against a barn wall.

"Look, we just need something from you. We need what's in the bag." One of the girls pointed to the brown bag Yang was carrying.

"No, I need it! It's for my family!" Yang called out to them.

"Hmph. Screw your family. They don't love you. If they did, they wouldn't let a girl wander around on her own!" A girl taunted Yang. That same girl then punched Yang right in the chest, almost knocking the wind out of her.

"Oof...!" Yang's eyes almost flew out of their sockets due to the impact. She was a little girl! She couldn't take something like that!

"Listen, kid. If you're gonna go far, you've gotta learn to stick up for yourself. I mean, you'd probably be able to take us down if you fought back, am I right?" One girl asked her group sarchasticly.

"Oh, yeah! She'll take us down with one punch! Totally!" Another girl shouted, throwing her arms up into the darkness, and laughing her sorry ass off.

The girl holding up Yang let her go, and Yang fell to the ground with a thud. Yang stood up, and began to growl.

"Grrr..." Yang's teeth grinded against each other. Her hair was shadowing her eyes. And as the girls were about to leave with her bag, Yang called out to them,

"GET BACK HERE!"

The three girls stopped in their tracks, and slightly turned their heads to see the young blonde girl glowing.

Yes, Glowing.

They fully turned around this time, to see Yang, now wrapped in a bright yellow Aura. Yang's fists were closed. Yang then screamed into the night, and the aura grew in size and scale. Now, a golden beacon flew into the night sky, and when it disappeared, only a small aura remained on Yang.

And Yang had...changed due to this.

Yang's hair was set aflame. Yang's eyes were changed from it's normal liliac color to a more crimson red. Fire formed all around her, and Yang seemed stronger.

Yang unlocked her semblance. The ability that makes people on Remnant special.

"What?!" One of the girls shouted at Yang. She was flabbergasted, just as the others were. Then, Yang began to walk up slowly to them.

"You looking for a fight?!" One of the girls challenged the young blonde.

Yang got up to that exact girl who challenged her, made a fist, and when she threw a punch at her leg,

It broke it.

 ***CRACK*  
**  
"GYAAA!" The girl kneeled down, and then Yang jumped up, and sucker punched her right in the cheek, sending her flying several feet. Another girl came up to her, and attempted to throw a punch, but Yang grabbed it, and threw her over her whole body. After that, Yang made a fist and smashed the girl's face in. Her face hit the ground with such force that it made a mini-crater.

Lastly, the final girl ran up to her, trying to tackle her, but Yang got in a crouching position, and when the girl got in reasonable distance, Yang grabbed her legs and threw her back to the ground. Then, Yang got on top of her, and began to pound her face in.

"YOU. DON'T. MAKE. FUN. OF. MY. FAMILY. LIKE. THAT!" Yang punched every time she said a new word.

At the final punch, the girl was nearly dead. Her face was bloodied, bruised, and nearly destroyed.

Yang was breathing heavily. She wasn't able to move. What she just did to herself was too much for her body to handle.

"How...do...you like...that.." Yang then collapsed on the girl's body.

Just as she did, Taiyang, her father, came in, running down a trail that began from his house. He was coming to investigate the bright light that just surged over the sky, and when he came around a curve, he saw Yang, still slightly glowing, and near three downed girls.

"Oh my god, Yang!" Taiyang rushed over to his unconscious daughter, picked her up, and ran back to their home. He rushed inside, with the loud noise waking up Ruby and making her cry. Taiyang ignored that for once and simply ran Yang to her room, where he layed her down on her bed, and began to check several parts of her body for wounds, burns, anything. He didn't find anything.

"What...happened to you?" Taiyang was thrown for a loop.

The next day, Yang and Taiyang confirmed that it was in fact, her semblance that caused her to gain so much power. It took them some time, more so on Tai's part, but that mystery eventually was solved.

 **Thirteen Years Later...  
**  
Yang was now Seventeen. It was her birthday today. And what's happening?

She's fighting a random punk who thinks they can take her down. It became her second day job at school. Why? She was the queen of the school. No one could touch her.

A random strong boy with a buzz cut threw a punch at the blonde. A crowd was forming around the two who were duking it out. Yang woar a tan jacket that bares her lower stomach, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low cut yellow crop top with her emblem, which was a flaming heart on the left breast in black. She also wears a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. She wears a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A lavender bandana is tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.

Yang dodged a right jab sent right for her face. Yang then did a sweeping move to the boy's legs, but he jumped over that and went for a kick to Yang's face. It was a perfect angle, and it hit her square on the face. Yang stumbled backwards, noticing that there was a small bruise on her cheek because of that. Yang then growled and charged her opponent once again. Yang decided to end the fight right then and there, by grabbing the boy's face, and throwing him to the ground. Yang then sat on top of him and proceeded to beat his face in. Yang kept punching and punching until the boy's face was bloody.

Yang finished her beatdown by getting dragged away by a teacher towards the Principal's office.

"Ack-hey! Let me go!" Yang tried grabbing her scarf but it didn't help in the slightest.

Taiyang and Yang were sitting next to each other inside a room full of books, and in front of them was the principal himself.

"*Sigh* Yang, this is the second time this year you've done this. Why do you keep getting into fights?" The principal put his fingers on his forehead and shook his head.

"I wouldn't get into fights just for the heck of it. These guys who come after me punched first." Yang defended her actions.

"That doesn't mean you should fight back." Taiyang took the principal's side.

"What, you want me to just let these guys hit me? I'm not gonna stand around and wait for an adult to get me out of sticky situations! I'm going to take things into my own hands if I have to." Yang snapped back at her father.

The principal sighed again. "None the less, you damaged the kid pretty badly. You seriously hurt him. Mr. Xiao Long, you need to control your daughter." The principal leaned forward and got to the chase.

"I understand." Taiyang then gave Yang a look and muttered, "Damn it, Yang..."

"You two can go home. Reflect on what you've done, Yang." The principal waved his hand to have them be off.

And so, the two went home. Yang and Taiyang went through the whole car ride in silence. Yang was upset that she was blamed for this, and Tai was mad that Yang did this.

When they got back to their house, Yang stormed off to her room to vent her frustration. Tai immediately went to the kitchen to drink himself away.

Tai wasn't in the greatest state at the moment. He was having trouble dealing with a lot of things. With both his ex-wives leaving him, one who died and another who just ditched him and his two daughters, he had trouble dealing with it all. So he found a new hobby in drinking. It wasn't a good hobby, but it was one none the less. And unfortunately, Taiyang loved it. Once he opened a bottle, he then opened another one. Luckily he would pass out or just fall asleep before he gets drunk, so at least that's good.

Yang constantly spent her nights either on her phone, working out, or just relaxing. She did her best to stay in school and keep good grades. She did a damn good job of that, keeping high B's and some A's in her classes. On top of that, she also is able to fight people (Not that she starts them) and continue to do well. It's been like that for at least 5 years. And Yang didn't seem to mind it. In fact, she liked this life. Being able to have a good school education with her best friend and half sister, fighting punks to relieve stress, and best of all, have a future to look forward to.

Right?

Well, Yang didn't know what she wanted to do after school. She wanted to go to Beacon Academy to become a huntress, but that was a few months away. Plus, thinking about it more and more made her a little skeptical about the whole idea. Ruby had her mind set for a LOOOONG time. And she wasn't backing down now. But Yang, once again, didn't know what she wanted to do. If anything, she wanted to keep fighting people just for the hell of it. She could do that as a Huntress, but huntsmen and huntresses mainly protected the world from Grimm. Not actually fight other humans and Faunus.

 **The Next Day...**

Yang returned to school same as before, for the past thirteen years of her life. She treated what happened the previous day like nothing. She forgot about it. She didn't want to talk or remember what happened. Especially when Taiyang scolded her later on in the night at dinner. Yang wanted to stand up for herself, but she couldn't do that with her father. She wasn't that kind of girl. As Yang was walking towards her first class and waiting for the door to open, a boy ran up to her and began a conversation with her.

"Hey, Yang!" The young boy greeted the blonde bombshell.

"Oh, hello. You need something?" Yang answered quietly, not really wanting to talk.

"Oh, I just found this. I thought you might want to have it." The boy pulled out a flier he had in his backpack. He handed it to Yang and she read it real quick. The poster had a couple genderless figures on the front, with their fists up, kind of like in a boxing stance. And sure enough...

"Underground boxing league? Where did you find this?" Yang turned to the boy after reading the title of the flier.

"I found it hung up in the city. I thought, since you are a fighter, you might wanna...I dunno, try it out?" The boy smiled at Yang, expecting a positive response.

"I don't know. Underground? I mean, maybe." Yang paused, not sure what to say.

"Well, I'd keep it in mind. You never know, Yang." The boy then raced into the classroom as the door opened. Yang folded the paper and put it in her pocket. She walked inside her classroom, and began her day.

After the day was over, Yang immediately walked to her room and shut the door. She then pulled out the paper and read over it again. She had time to figure out what the paper said. When she read it again, she read it out loud, silently.

"Underground boxing league. Only women only. Must be 17 or older. Can have little experience fighting. Sign up at this location." Yang nodded her head, recognizing where the area to sign up was.

That night, Yang thought about the league. She thought about joining and thinking about fighting. Maybe she could gain some money. Maybe she could get some more fighting experience. Maybe she could find a new hobby. Maybe, this could be what she wanted to do. She had a knack for fighting. She had ever since she discovered her semblance. After a little while, she finally made up her mind. Yang wanted to fight. She nodded her head, and she decided that the next day, she would sign up for this thing and give it a try.

Once again, after the day was over, Yang said she was "staying after" for "extra help at school" and drove to the location that was specified in the poster on her wonderful motorcycle, Bumblebee. It took her a good solid half-hour from school to get there. When she arrived, she stopped right in front of a normal apartment building on a street. No one went in there, at least, that's what it looked like. When Yang went through the door, she found herself in front of a stairwell only going down. Yang was a little scared, but she held onto her fears and walked down the stairwell. Yang walked down three flights until she reached the bottom. And down there, she found a man, sitting in front of a desk, with a clipboard in his hand. He was a big guy. Rather overweight, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, sunglasses (indoors, because why not) and a baseball hat.

"You Seventeen?" The man asked the blonde.

"Uh, yeah." Yang answered as casually as she could.

"Here. Write your name. We'll get this to the boss and then have your opponent's name mailed to you." The man explained how the process worked. He held out the clipboard and grabbed a pen.

"O-okay..." Yang stuttered slightly, grabbing the pen and clipboard. She began to write her name on it.

"Looking good, sweetheart." The man complimented Yang. He smirked and examined Yang's body.

"Oh. Th-thanks." Yang would've tried to take down the man, but Yang was not only intimidated by him, but she also felt like the man could take her down if she began a fight. After Yang finished writing her name, She put the clipboard down and put the pen on the table.

"Do you have any questions?" The man asked, while sounding very tired, almost like what he's been saying he's already said before.

"Yeah, uh, is there like, a dress code or anything? Do I have to-y'know-"

"No, you can wear a top, if you want. You can appear naked, but most girls don't do that. Hell, there's only been two girls in the entire time this has been a thing who've done that. You don't have to..."bear it all."" The man answered Yang's question.

"Okay, thanks." Yang replied before waving goodbye. _'Whew! If I had to go topless, I wouldn't have liked that as much.'_

"One more thing. Make sure to come back here every time you have a fight. Most of the time it's late into the night. So that way you don't have to worry about your mommy or daddy catching you. They'll be fast asleep so that way you can get here secretly." The man added to his explanations.

"Oh, alright. Thanks." The blonde nodded, before walking up the stairs and outside. She walked outside and sat on top of Bumblebee. She then realized she would probably have to train before the fight. So, she then decided to buy a few supplies for her training the next day.

The next day, Yang got up early to go over to a store nearby to buy a few things. She didn't have school that day, so she didn't need to worry about that. Yang found herself near the boxing aisle. She was looking at women's gloves, trying to figure out what kind would fit her hands. She eventually found one perfect for her fists. Then, she bought some wraps for her hands. Along with that, she also bought boxing shoes that laced to her knees. After that, Yang walked out and went to a clothing store. Yang decided to buy a yellow sports bra for working out. And she found black shorts that fit her and worked well for working out. Yang felt good after spending a couple hundred lien on her supplies. It was getting her hopes up. She was smiling as she left the building.

Around three days later, When Yang came home from school at the beginning of her week, she finished her drive from the gym nearby back to her home. When she arrived, she put away her things in a backpack, and went to grab the mail. And when she did, she found a little slip of paper. It was small enough so it could barely weigh anything, and all it had on it was a name, and a date and time. She quickly put it in her pocket before bringing everything she had inside. When she did, she put her clothes in her room and began to shower to wash off all the sweat she got from working out.

After her shower, Yang walked into her room and took out that slip of paper. On the paper, it read,

"Emily Faul. Eleven O'clock."

Yang had her first opponent!

And that night, Yang set out for the building. She took her boxing equipment with her, and then drove off at 10 o'clock. Taiyang was already asleep, as was Ruby. Yang drove off into the night, a little anxious for this fight. It was her first fight, sure, but she was really anxious and excited.

After Yang got to the building, she got off Bumblebee, took her equipment inside a backpack, and walked inside. She walked down the flights up stairs until she found the desk. The man wasn't there this time, but to her right was a door that led to another room, as well as more flights of stairs.

"Well, I'm definitely getting a workout..." Yang joked with herself before walking down to the bottom of the stairs. Yang looked to her right where she found the man from a few days ago, standing near one final door that would reveal to be Yang's changing room.

"Get ready in here. You've got a half hour before then." The man held the door open for Yang.

"Thanks." Yang nodded, before turning to ask the man, "What should I call you, if we ever meet again?"

The man paused. He then answered, "David."

"Alright, David. Thanks." Yang smiled before putting her stuff on a bench. David nodded and closed the door behind her.

Over the next 20 minutes, Yang got herself ready. She had her fighting clothes on; a yellow sports bra, and black shorts, as well as yellow gloves plus wrist wraps and yellow boxing shoes. Yang was somewhat slim, not a lot of fat, not a lot of muscle, she was just right. Although she didn't have a lot of time to prepare for this, so her body type wasn't something she could change drastically. David once again came close to the door and told Yang it was time. Yang was ready to fight.

As she walked out with David, she was silent. She watched as the darkness turned into a blinding light, thanks to blinding lights lighting up the ring. Her opponent was already there, wearing green gloves with a dark green sports bra as well as dark green trunks. She was fighting barefoot, unlike Yang. Along with Yang, she also had bright, yellow hair. But something was different about her. She was rather ripped. She worked out a lot.

Yang stared down her opponent from a distance, until she entered into the ring herself. After she did, David left and Yang was now there to fend for herself.

After entering, she walked to the center of the ring, and so did Emily. When they met in the center, both women sized the other up. They were trying to intimidate each other. Yang and Emily both listening for the various cheers for both of them. To fight, to kiss, to do, pretty much anything. Yang simply did her best to ignore the shouting and just intimidate Emily to the best of her abilities. Emily did the same, and all they did was touch gloves for a split moment, and then walked back to their neutral corners.

The cheers and chants continued to rave throughout the underground arena. And within the crowd, a woman with crimson eyes watched the blonde bombshell from a distance with her arms crossed.

 _'Hmm.'_

 **DING!**

The bell rang and both came out fists flying. Yang kept her hands close to her face, but her chest was completely open. Emily was also having trouble with her guard, but it didn't matter. She still dashed forward and got the first shot off on Yang's nose. Yang was stunned and stumbled back a little. Cheers erupted with the first hit. Emily then continued to pounce on Yang, continuing her assault. Emily ducked down low and unleashed a terribly powerful jab to Yang's open abdomen. Yang's mouth flew out a little spit as she stumbled back again. She shook her head to wake herself up, and notice Emily charging for her again. Yang clenched her fists and threw a highly telegraphed left hook to Emily's cheek. But, Emily saw it, backed up slightly, and then she moved in for a one-two punch to Yang's face. Yang took both hits, and now was trapped in a corner. Emily then began a volley of punches aimed for Yang. Yang's cheeks were hit first, jerking from side to side as Emily's blows connected and connected. Then, Emily aimed for Yang's chest and abdomen. She threw three crosses and jabs for the blonde's open, sweaty chest. They all hit, and now Yang was affected with a stinging abdomen, and now a few swollen spots on her right cheek.

Yang then began to get angry. She clenched her fists from inside her gloves, and her hair caught ablaze. She was activating her semblance. She would think it's allowed, and it is. Yang pushed Emily backwards, making her stumble backwards and try and retain her footing. In that time, Yang rushed forward and cocked back a right hook for Emily's cheek. Emily couldn't dodge in time, and so she took the blow, and it almost sent her flying. Her mouth erupted spit and even a little bit of blood! Just from one punch, Yang began to turn the tide.

But in the stands,

 _'*Sigh* Yang. You're better than this.'  
_  
Cheers erupted all throughout once again, now that Yang and Emily were both dealing equally devastating blows to one another. Yang's teeth grinded against each other, wanting to destroy Emily for all the damage done to her body. After Emily recovered, Yang charged again, this time throwing a left jab right for Emily's nose. It connected, and Emily stumbled back again. Her body had sweat flying off it. Thanks to Yang's semblance, she hit really hard, and Emily didn't even know it. Yang then ducked low and threw a right uppercut right for Emily's chin. When Emily saw Yang's fist, time began to slow. She only could see wind from Yang's glove and the yellow color of leather. Emily began to weave her head to the right. Hopefully it would be in time.

 ***WOOSH***

Yang's fist only touched Emily's hair. Emily quickly sighed in relief as this was her opportunity to turn this around. Yang's eyes followed Emily's head as her fist came back around only to collide with Yang's face. Her entire face was covered by the glove and only blood and sweat. Yang was in trouble. When Emily's fist came off, Yang's forehead was dripping blood, and her left eye was swollen slightly. Yang stumbled backward. This was it for her. Her vision was a little blurry, and she was beginning to wobble around like a drunk person.

Emily used her feet to spring forward towards Yang, who's guard is down. She cocked back her left fist, and threw it right towards Yang. Her upper body leaned backwards after connecting. Then, Emily threw another punch, this time with her right fist. It hit Yang's face again. Then, in a final display of strength, Emily ducked below and cocked back a right uppercut made exclusively for Yang's chin. When it connected, Yang's head sprung upwards. Her eyes were lifeless and all she could see was her own sweat, spit, and blood. Emily's fist was flying up with Yang's chin. Following it was sweat and blood.

With this hit, Yang toppled over. She fell with a thud onto the canvas and bounced slightly. She then layed on the mat in silence.

But following this, the crowd went nuts. And the bell dinged multiple times, and Emily threw her fist into the air in victory. She had won over Yang.

 _*Sigh* Goodness, Yang. You have so much to learn.'_ The woman shook her head in disgust and walked away.

 **At Midnight...**

Yang was sitting alone in a bar surrounded by a group of men drinking the night away. She was simply recollecting herself after what happened just an hour prior. Her hand was on her forehead, and she was just looking miserable. Yang couldn't even have the idea to go home yet. She had to sit alone, not do anything, and re-examine everything. Yang's wounds were already healed thanks to her aura. She didn't need to worry about her dad or Ruby harping on her for her injuries.

Just then, a barmaid came up to the blonde, and put down a drink. A strawberry sunrise, to be exact.

"Oh, I didn't-" Yang was interrupted by the barmaid.

"There's a woman upstairs. Red eyes, black hair, kinda sticks out. She paid for this. And she told me to tell you to go up there. She wanted to talk to you." The barmaid explained the Yang as she leaned over slightly.

"O-oh. Thanks." Yang looked at her drink, and the barmaid walked away. Yang then quickly pondered who it could be. But in the back of her mind, she knew who it was.

Yang took her Strawberry Sunrise and began to walk up the stairs.

When she got to the top, she found the one person who she might've expected. Raven Branwen. Her mother. The crafty bird greeted her daughter.

"Hello, Yang."

Yang stood in silence for a moment. She didn't want to answer her, but she did, none the less. But interestingly, Yang didn't answer to Raven as "Mom."

"Hmph. Raven." Yang stared down Raven from a distance. She began to walk up close to her table. Beside her was her sword, which was of a unknown variety. Raven woar a shallow cut black and red dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. She wears fingerless gloves as well. An object that looks to be made from feathers hangs from the right side of her skirt. She also wears detached black leggings that are solid black. Under her leggings she wears black boots, which have red high heels and soles.

Raven pulled out a cigarette box, and a match. She pulled out a cig, and put in her mouth. She lit the match in her other hand and put it right on the end of the cigarette. But as she did, and the smoke flew off, Yang grabbed the cigarette, and found an ashtray on the table. She then put the end into the ashtray, and getting rid of the smoke.

"Really? Qrow already drinks and so does Dad. I don't want anyone else in my family taking up bad habits." Yang scolded her mother.

"Um, Yang." Raven eyeballed Yang's Strawberry Sunrise, implying the same logic on her daughter.

"I don't drink every ten minutes." Yang growled at Raven and then sat down. "So. What do you want?" Yang leaned back in the wooden chair and began to drink her beverage.

"A girl can't just catch up with her family?" Raven shrugged her shoulders and asked Yang her question. But both of them knew it was bullshit.

"She can, but you're not. Get on with it. Unless you plan on ditching me. AGAIN." Yang coldly replied to Raven's question. Yang put her glass on the table, and crossed her arms. She awaited Raven's question. Raven didn't speak for a moment, but she finally responded with:

"Why did you enter into that underground fighting ring?" Ravens's tone turned serious quickly. Yang paused. She glared at Raven. Her hands gripped her arms hard.

"Why did you leave us?" Yang returned Raven's question with another question.

"That's not what I-"

"I know that's not what you asked. But you have MUCH more to answer for, Raven!" Yang furiously shouted at her mother.

Raven leaned back and sighed. She then responded with,

"I had a tribe to look after-"

"Oh, GREAT ANSWER, MOM." Yang slowly clapped as a sign of disappointment. "Great FUCKING ANSWER."

"You wouldn't understand." Raven shook her head and remained calm despite her daughter's yelling.

"Oh, I know what it's like. When you left us, I had to do everything! I still have to! Get all the groceries, take care of Dad and Ruby, do all the housework, it's a lot of shit to deal with! And it all stemmed from YOU." Yang slammed her hands on the table and leaned forward. Yang's eyes turned crimson. And she grinded her teeth against one another.

"Fair enough." Raven acknowledged she made a mistake. She then added, "Now it's your turn. Answer my question."

Yang looked down for a moment. She was a little annoyed now.

"I entered in because I wanted to try it out." Yang gave a half-baked answer, although not entirely false.

"Oh please. Give me a real answer." Raven shook her head in response.

"I...I entered because I don't know what to do with my life." Yang truthfully answered this time.

"Hmm. Really?" Raven rubbed her chin in curiosity.

"Yes. I'm not sure if I wanted to become a huntress. I know Ruby wants to. But...doing this...it feels-fun. I find enjoyment out of the sport." Yang said as she looked at Raven truthfully in the eye.

"You take an interest in boxing?" Raven put her hands on her elbows and leaned her head slightly to the side.

"I do. I've been a fighter for a long time. A fist fighter. And I think I can make this work. Although...why do you care? Why show up now? Why begin to talk with me now?!" Yang demanded an answer after answering Raven's question.

"Things are a little slow at the tribe right now. A few things are happening here and there, but nothing that's very interesting. I decided to come here and check up on things with you." Raven answered. "And besides, you actually captured my interest." Raven smiled slightly at the blonde.

"How so?" Yang suspiciously asked as she leaned back into her chair.

"I can help you. You want to get better at boxing, right?" Raven asked Yang.

"I do. What, are you asking to be my trainer or something?" Yang chuckled a little.

"I'm not asking. I AM your trainer from this moment onward. You don't even have the lien to BUY a trainer to help you, do you?" Raven smirked at Yang.

"Wha-how did you know?!" Yang was flabbergasted at how Raven knew that she had little money.

"I know everything, sweetheart." Raven leaned forward and stroked Yang's chin real quickly before Yang swiped it away. Raven leaned back, and grabbed her sword. She then attached it to her belt and walked towards the stairs.

"I'll send you the destination for the place we'll be training. You won't leave me alone, will you?" Raven requested of her daughter with her back turned to her. She then walked down the stairs and out of the bar.

And with that, Yang had a dilemma. Go with Raven to train with her, or give up on this stupid idea? She wanted to pursue boxing. She found slight enjoyment out of duking it out in the ring, despite her losing dramatically the last time. Plus, she could get to know Raven. It would be probably her only chance.

Yang had decided what she wanted to do. Yang got up, and left the bar, and drove back to her home.

 **She was beginning her boxing career.**


	2. Raven's Good

**The Day after their meeting...**

Yang was driving her motorcycle over to the location Raven specified. Yang was a little nervous to work with Raven. She didn't want Raven to act like a complete bitch the entire time they were training. Hopefully that would be the case. Maybe Raven would ease up on her. Maybe.

Yang finished her drive and came up at a one-way street. At the very end was a rather simple, square building that looked like it went up maybe two to three stories. It was a white color all around with a few windows around each level for some natural light. It wasn't marked or anything, so no one went by the place. It looks like Raven set up shop here.

Yang got off Bumblebee and took off her helmet. She had her training clothes in a backpack, and she had it right near her. Yang walked up to the entrance of the place, and paused. She simply stared at the door, and started to ponder what would await her inside.

 _'Could it be full of some random crap? Or some outdated equipment? Or...what? Ugh. I'm just freaking out too much over this. I'll find some normal things in there. Right?'_ Yang shook her head to swipe away the thought.

Yang grabbed the door handle and entered into the building. Inside, there was actually training equipment in there: A ring in the center of the area, heavy bags to her immediate right, all lined up in a row, with a few benches nearby, and to her left there were some other equipment such as speed bags, and various other equipment she doesn't know the names of. But, it was pretty dark.

When she walked a few steps in, the lights flickered on, and Raven was standing over at the other side of the other side of the room, leaning on the wall with the light switches with a different set of apparel on. Not something Yang would normally expect. She was wearing a long sleeved gray hoodie with black sweatpants. Something really out of character for Raven.

 _'Wait, Raven can wear normal clothing? What?'_ Yang joked with herself.

"You finally got here." Raven grunted from a distance. She leaned off the wall and began to slowly walk towards the ring in the middle of the room.

"Finally? I'm supposed to get here at a specific time?" Yang questioned Raven's statement.

"You want to become a proficient fighter, right? You've gotta get up early to train more." Raven walked to the steps of the ring, and ducked under the ropes and entered. She walked to the middle of the ropes closest to Yang, who was now a good 5 feet away from her mother.

"I can only do that on weekends. Not on school days." Yang explained to Raven.

"You can't build up your stamina by running to school?" Raven pointed out to her daughter.

"Eeh, riding on my Bumblebee is way more badass." Yang chuckled and smiled, not really listening to her mom. But she needed the advice.

"*Sigh* You've got a lot of work to do, Yang. If you really want to become a good fighter, you've got to put in the work." Raven scolded her daughter in a rather calm tone.

"Pft. I don't need your advice, Raven. You're probably just a washed up fighter." Yang waved her hand, dismissing Raven's calls and not really putting up with this. Yang knew she was bad, but she didn't really want to take advice from her mother who's been a complete asshole to her, and her family.

"Considering how well you did in that match, you need the training. Badly." Raven leaned forward on the ropes, her head closing in on Yang's.

"Oh shut up. I'm better than you might think, Raven." Yang's fists clenched tightly as she defied her mother from a distance.

"Oh really?" Raven smiled slightly. She was going to slightly enjoy this. "Get in the ring. Let's see how much "better" you say you are." Raven ordered to the blonde newcomer.

"Hmph. I'll show you, hag." Yang scoffed and walked away into the changing rooms to her right.

As Yang was putting on her sparring gear, which was the same outfit she had on for her first fight in the underground, she wondered a few things. If Raven was actually worth her time, if Yang was in over her head, and various other problems. But there was one thing in her mind that consumed her:

She needed the training if she wanted to continue down this path. She was bad. Yang knew that. The previous night proved it. But...she couldn't admit to her mother that she needed it. She didn't want the training from her mother.

 _'Why did I come here, then? If that's the case, why?'_ Yang questioned her own logic before she finished dressing herself. Maybe it was because Raven's the only one she can turn to? Maybe it's because Yang feels like Raven can actually teach her? She'll know in a bit, for sure. But for now, she was a little on edge about this.

But, Yang continued to get ready. She strapped on her yellow gloves and yellow boxing boots, put on a yellow sports bra, and black gym shorts and she began to walk out to the ring.

When she left the locker room, Raven was still wearing the same apparel as before, but with dark red gloves on now. She was throwing jabs and weaving around a bit, and Yang wondered what she was doing.

The first sign that she needed to learn.

When Yang stepped into the ring, she jumped up and down, trying to work up a little sweat. Raven stopped and stared her opponent down from a distance. She was smiling.

Yang noticed this and growled at her mother. She hated that smile. Especially if it's directed towards her. Yang slammed her gloves together, and then put them close to her face. Yang bent low and waited for this sparring match to start.

Raven smiled as she got into her stance. Her left foot was forward, as well as her left arm being at a 90 degree angle, and it was positioned a little close to her stomach. Her right arm was positioned right next to her cheek. And from what Yang's seen before, Raven wasn't crouched down, like how she's seen other people who've fought do. She was standing somewhat upright.

Yang, by contrast, had both her hands close to her face, trying to guard her precious head. She charged straight for her mom, getting ready to finish her immediately. When she did charge, Raven immediately seized the opportunity and launched a thundering right jab towards Yang's face. Since Yang charged forward, she dropped her guard, an easy and simple mistake. When the glove hit Yang's face, she immediately felt woozy. Raven hit hard. It's almost as if she were being hit by a mechanical hand. Yang stumbled backwards a little bit and shook her head.

"If you won't listen to me and some common sense, then I'll beat the common sense into that thick skull of yours. That skull is probably the only good thing you've got on you as of now. I promise I won't damage it too badly, otherwise how else are you going to fight?" Raven taunted the Little Sun Dragon as she bounced on her toes, waiting for Yang's next move.

"Grr...!" Yang growled as she wasn't too fond of someone mocking her intelligence. Yang rushed forward yet again, and ducked low, trying to get Raven to do something to drop her guard. But, she didn't. Instead, she shifted her arms to a blocking position for her stomach. Yang quickly threw a left uppercut headed straight towards Raven's chin! But, Raven saw it coming and back-stepped. She found herself in a corner, but it didn't matter. Raven knew what she was doing.

Yang smiled when she saw Raven trapped. She brought her left hand back and moved it towards her face. After doing that, she followed up with a right uppercut for Raven's chin once again. But, as she did, she noticed Raven's head weaving towards the left, dodging her blow! Yang glared at her mother with a murderous intent as she watched the glove slip past and hit only air. And in doing so, It left her cheek wide open for a nasty hook! When it connected, Yang's face flew off sweat and a little bit of blood was dripping down her nose!

And with this, Yang stood still at the center, and used her right hand to wipe the fluid from her nose. When she looked at her glove and saw the crimson blood, Yang immediately got even more fired up. Her eyes turned crimson red. She slammed her gloves together and her hair caught ablaze.

"Really? Is throwing a tantrum all you do when mommy isn't coddling you?" Raven taunted her daughter yet again, clenching her fists inside her gloves.

"RRAAGH!" Yang sprung forward, showing surprising speed, even by Raven's standards! Yang threw forward a cocked back right cross, but Raven, again, dodged it. She used her foot to spring backwards, making the punch miss spectacularly.

And then, Raven sprung back into the fray, cocking back her own right jab, hitting Yang square on the nose, making more blood come out of her nose. Yang shut her eyes for a quick moment and stumbled backwards. She didn't stop until she was on the ropes. Then, Raven made her move. She made her way to her wounded daughter and began to throw volley after volley at Yang. Jabs, hooks, crosses, what have you. It was hitting Yang square on. She was losing strength in her legs. They were wobbling. Her face was a little lumpy. She was bleeding out her mouth now. Her cheeks were slightly bruised.

Raven grunted once more and ducked down low. She turned her body to the right. Then, she brought her body up along with a right hook sent straight for Yang's cheek!

When it connected, Yang was sent up into the air, sweat, saliva and blood following her. She landed on the mat with a thud, and was laying on her side. She was groaning and in pain as she slowly moved over to look at her mother.

When she did, she was met with a look of seriousness, and maybe even disapproval. Raven looked down on her daughter in shame, her expectations shattered, but not in a good way. As Yang and Raven continued to stare at each other in silence, Yang's eyes once again turned from lilac to crimson red, and it's when they did, that Raven closed her eyes, and sighed. After their exchange, Yang's eyes turned back to it's normal color, and she continued to breathe in air.

"...Use your aura. Heal up. Quickly. We're starting soon." Raven opened her eyes again and walked over to the ropes. She vaulted over them and turned around to continue to stare at her daughter. Yang slowly got up, and activated her aura. She got up to her feet, and exited the ring. She then jumped down, and sat on the edge of the ring.

"You sure you don't need that training, Yang?" Raven coldly remarked to the blonde bombshell.

"Hmph." Yang got up and ignored Raven's comment. She then stood in front of her mother, with her gloves raised.

"Alright. First thing you need to learn is a stance. As for you.." Raven paused for a moment to assess her new trainee. "You'll be in an orthodox stance. Do what I do." Raven calmly instructed.

 _'Ugh, we don't get to punch stuff yet? C'mon!'_ Yang complained to herself as she awaited instruction.

"First, take off your gloves. Let me help you." Raven told her daughter as she moved in to take off the straps on her yellow gloves. Yang awkwardly stood still while Raven reached towards her chest, to grab the straps and take them off. She got one off, hearing a strong and loud *rrrriiippp* sound. Then Raven moved to the next one. She took that one off too, making the same sound. Afterwards, there was silence for a bit, but Raven started up the important part of her training. She put her fists up in front of her face. She then moved her right hand backwards a little bit. It ended up staying right next to her cheek. Then, her left foot moved forward. She also bent her knees. "Like this."

"Hmm...okay..." Yang stood right next to Raven, trying to mimic her movement. Yang began slow, putting her fists close to her face, then moving her left to her cheek. There was a little gap. Raven was watching every move Yang did.

"No, no no. Here." Raven then grabbed Yang's balled fist and pressed it against her daughter's cheek. After that, she then moved back into position to then stepped back to where she was before, giving Yang a reference again.

Yang then slid her left foot forwards a bit.

"No, that's not good either." Raven sighed and got out of her stance. She bent down and adjusted Yang's foot the tiiiiinnniest amount.

"Okay, come on, Raven. It was a millimeter off!" Yang complained at how Raven was acting so perfect for her sake.

"Do you want to do this right or not?" Raven sighed in annoyance.

"Fine, fine." Yang rolled her eyes and growled.

"Alright, you're all good." Raven clapped her hands on Yang's boots twice, before coming back up. Then, Raven joined Yang, mimicking her stance.

"Alright, now we'll work on your punches." Raven announced to her new trainee as she turned her head to the side.

"Cool, let's get to it!" Yang clenched her fists inside her gloves.

"Ah ah ah, you're not just going to throw punches wildly and expect to get somewhere. You've got to know how to throw them correctly." Raven shook her head. She began to take off her gloves, which revealed her wrists were wrapped in some sort of cloth. "We'll start with the jab. It's simple and effective. Watch me."

Raven turned to her right to have Yang get a good long view of her hands and arms while she began this demonstration. She got into a boxing stance, keeping her fists close to her face, and trying to imitate Yang's style so it'd be familiar to her. Then, within a split second, Raven's fists slightly opened. Her fingers moved away from her hand, and then, within that same timespan, she threw what looked like five punches with incredible speed!

"W-woah!" Yang stammered at Raven's demonstration.

"Did you see?" Raven turned her head slightly to Yang as she asked that question.

"Um... it looked like you..opened your fists?" Yang asked Raven.

"Good. Now do it. Do that exact motion I just did." Raven ordered the blonde bombshell.

"What?! But I didn't even get-"

"If you're training with me, expect this a lot. I'm not going to go easy. So suck it up, and do it." Raven growled at Yang. She got out of her stance and watched Yang. She was going to observe.

"Argh...alright, fine." Yang hissed back as she put her fists up. She took a deep breath and attempted to replicate the memory of her mother a few seconds ago.

She saw Raven open her hand slightly, then immediately after that, throwing the punch, and THEN closing it back up, making a "woosh"-like sound. It seemed to maximize impact.

So Yang attempted to replicate the same exact motion. She opened her hands, ever so slightly, and then threw a punch. Then, right as her arm was going to be stretched to the limit, she closed it again, and it made the exact same "woosh" sound. She did the same, again, and again, and again!

Then, Yang decided to just go all out. She continued to do the same motion for probably ten seconds!

And that entire time, Raven just...watched. And she was amazed. But she didn't show it.

 _'How the hell-What?!'_ Raven was amazed at Yang's progress on the jab. She only watched at her left and right hands were zooming straight forward at great speeds! "Alright, that's enough." Raven put her hands on her hips, and waited for Yang to stop.

When she did, she then smiled and looked at her hand. "WOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Yang laughed as she made a fist again. "So how was that?" Yang smiled at her trainer, feeling good about herself. "So, I keep my fist loose until the moment of contact! If I clench my fists too tightly it'll slow me down and I can't afford to be slow!"

"Well, you could still use better speed. And your jabs are rather sloppy. I can see your arms not as straight as they could be. Plus, you need to work on footwork. Just standing with your legs like that isn't going to work." Raven critiqued Yang to the teeth.

"What?! Those were perfect! You're just blind!" Yang huffed in denial.

"You want to test that?" Raven asked in a smart-ass-like way. She motioned her head towards the ring, asking if she wanted to go another round.

"..." Yang's excited attitude went out the window.

"Next is the hook..."

 **That night...**

For the rest of the day, Yang and Raven worked together on punches. And throughout the entire time, Raven kept criticizing her, and it kept making Yang more and more mad.

 _'Your hooks are sloppy as well. You can't exactly just swing. You need to work on footwork. Don't just throw punches. Go. Try it again.'  
_  
 _'But you aren't teaching me anything! How can I-'  
_  
 _'AGAIN!'  
_

 _'And your uppercuts...ugh. While you hit like a goddamn truck, Yang, you still need to work on finesse. Again.'_

Raven was being hard on her. She wasn't doing much to help her, though. Yang is rather surprised at this, as a coach is supposed to, y'know, HELP HER.

But for some reason, it was making Yang work harder. Maybe the fact that she was getting infuriated made her work harder? Either way, Yang went home steaming, and in a sweat. She drove home, and opened the door and immediately ran into the bathroom to take a shower.

As Yang was letting the water go over her body, she covered her face and began to think to herself.

 _'Is this what became of Raven? A complete hardass? What experiences at her tribe shaped her to be like that?'_ Yang asked herself as the stench from her workout began to wash away. She reached for the soap and began to move it all around her body. Yang had trouble getting her mind straight on this.

When she stepped out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her body, covering her breasts and a bit of her legs.

"Raven's-"

 ***KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK***

"Yang?!" Ruby, her younger half-sister called out.

"Jeez...what?!" Yang was scared when Ruby banged on the door. She screamed at the top of her lungs to make sure she was heard.

"I need your help with Dad! He fell asleep on the couch again!" Ruby shouted in her rather high-pitched voice.

"Alright, I'll be right there! Let me dry off first!" Yang called back to her sister.

Ruby walked away and left Yang in peace. Yang sighed and then began to talk to herself again.

"Raven's not going to let up. I'm going to have to work extra hard." Yang decided to herself. She was feeling stiff. She felt like she could barely move. Raven worked her to the very limit. When they were done, Yang could barely walk to Bumblebee.

When Yang finished drying off, she put on her pajamas and walked over to the living room couch. Yang sighed and got ready to help Ruby pick up Taiyang.

"On three. One, two...three!" Ruby began to do her best and lift Taiyang over her arm. Yang had no trouble, so little it was almost comedic. She easily put Taiyang's arm over her shoulder, and smiled. She waited for Ruby to do the same. It took her a bit, but she finally got it over her shoulder. They began to walk towards the stairs behind them and towards Taiyang's bedroom.

As they were walking up, Yang looked at her sister. She smiled. She was happy that Ruby wasn't getting into any of this. Nothing regarding boxing. At least, she hoped. If she ever saw Ruby getting hurt, she would...well...there was no need to spell it out.

The next day, after school yet again, Yang went to the same place that she did the previous day and entered the door. She saw Raven leaning on a wall yet again and she ordered her daughter to change.

Yang began to walk towards the changing room. As she got closer and closer, Yang got more and more unsettled. Raven's constant staring was a little off-putting. So when Yang stopped right at the door and asked "Gloves or no gloves?" there was an awkward air. Along with a long pause.

"You're late again." Raven hissed, as Yang was busy doing whatever. Raven didn't bother to try and keep an eye on her. "And yes. You're getting in the ring today." Raven answered. She kept her head covered up by the hood she was wearing. The only thing Yang could see was her mother's crimson red eyes.

"Hmph." _'Already? More sparring?'_ Yang thought to herself. The blonde quickly went into the changing room to put her workout clothes on. She emerged five minutes later, to Raven already inside the ring.

"C'mon. In here." Raven motioned with her hand to have Yang enter the ring. Yang quickly jogged to the ring, where she ducked under the ropes and entered into the square circle.

Raven raised her fists. She gave her daughter no warning.

"What are you doing?!" Yang put her fists up out of instinct.

"You're going to learn how to block." Raven smiled, as she began to advance forward.

"What?! How?!" Yang continued to stand still in her corner.

"Think for a moment." Raven sighed as she got within striking distance. She started throwing punches at Yang, seemingly out of nowhere! Yang kept her guard up right next to her face. Raven just kept hitting her yellow gloves, over and over again. Yang felt large booming impacts hit her gloved fists constantly. She couldn't do anything. She didn't move when she entered the ring, so she was trapped in a corner. And plus, her head was turned to the side, so she couldn't see what Raven was going to do next! Raven threw a body blow right to Yang's abdomen, causing her to crouch over at the impact. Raven hit like a truck, although that was already proven the previous day.

Raven smiled, as she then threw a right hook to a open Yang. Yang's mouth spit out saliva, and her head snapped to the side.

Raven stayed on her toes, but she gave her daughter some breathing room. She hopped backwards ever so slightly. Just out of arms reach.

"*Cough* What the hell, Raven?" Yang coughed as she complained at the sudden attack.

"You're learning blocking. How can you learn it without physically doing it?" Raven asked a question while staying in her own stance.

"Grr..." Yang's anger bubbled. She growled quietly, staying as silent as she could.

Raven smiled as she began to throw punches and punches again. Yang, this time, stayed vigilant of Raven's movements. As more and more jabs and hooks were thrown, Yang's arms began to weaken a little. Her endurance was low. Then, Raven threw another body blow.

 _'No you don't-!'_ Yang thought to herself. A sudden rush of adrenaline flowed through all her body! Yang felt her muscles moving at a much faster speed! She moved her right glove downward. She turned her hand to the right. Now the bottom of her glove was facing the mat.

 _'What?!'_ Raven's expression changed from entertained to shocked as Yang's fist blocked the blow that Raven threw. And Raven couldn't stop her fist, either. When the gloves tapped, Yang then took action. She cocked back a left, and her left foot stepped in. Yang's right arm came back up to her face, touching her cheek, just like how Raven showed her. Then, within an instant, Raven's head snapped to the left, just like Yang before. Raven stumbled back; Not because the punch hurt, but because she needed a second to collect her thoughts.

"How did-?" Raven paused and wiped something from her lip. It was saliva. No blood yet. Her attention turned form her glove back to Yang. "You little...!"

Raven approached again, throwing punch after punch. Again, Yang exceeded expectations! She began to...

Dodge!

Yang was weaving her head and body around as if she were trained to do so! She didn't do any previous training the night before, not after Raven worked her to the bone! But, Yang was forgetting about her stiffness. She was forgetting about her anger towards her mother. She was...

Having fun.

Yang was getting more and more excited with each blow she blocked and dodged. Raven threw a right hook? Yang used her arm to block it, then countered with a right cross of her own. Raven dodged it, since she could see that coming. Raven threw a left hook? Yang dodged under it, Raven's fist only hitting Yang's golden locks.

Everything Raven was doing, Yang was countering. It was incredible.

Raven threw one more left hook aimed for Yang's cheek. Yang ducked under it again, and Raven could only see Yang's sports bra and a bit of her backbone. Yang then stepped in quicker than normal, and turned her foot to the right. Then, she threw a left right into Raven's side. It caused Raven to back up. This time she was a little in pain. Then, Yang advanced. She kept her fists close to her face, but she abandoned her stance, keeping her left hand away from her face. But in the moment, it didn't matter to Yang. Yang threw a right hook, but Raven dodged it. Then Yang threw a left hook, Raven also dodged it. Then, Yang used up the remainder of her stamina to throw a volley of punches at her mother. They were mainly jabs and hooks, no body blows. She just wanted to aim for the head.

But Raven kept bobbing and weaving. She didn't take a single hit. The back of Raven's feet moved upwards. She was now on the tips of her toes.

And in the perfect moment, when Yang stared to slow down, Raven stepped forward and threw a massive uppercut aimed straight for Yang's chin. Yang couldn't block it. She was too tired to. So she took the hit head on, and fell to the floor.

But...what just happened?! They had a little...sparring session...

"*Pant* *Pant*" Yang tried to catch her breath.

"You didn't block it." Raven got out of her stance. She lowered her fists.

"Way to kick a man when he's down." Yang hissed back at her mother. "But... *Pant* how was that.."

 _'You definitely surprised me. In more ways than one. But how did you know all of that?! Instinct?'_ Raven thought to herself before answering: "Good. Very good. Better than I thought." Raven emotionlessly responded.

"That's it?! No recognition, no "Wow, Yang! Amazing!" Just...Good?!" Yang got to her feet.

"Yeah, that's all." Raven nodded her head in confirmation.

"GRRR...!" Yang's teeth grinded against one another. She clenched her fists inside her gloves. She threw one more punch, but Raven beat her to it. Throwing a jab that was so precise that it caused Yang to topple back down.

"I wouldn't try that again." Raven defiantly announced. Yang went silent yet again. She didn't say a word. Yang got up, and they continued yet again.

 **Later...**

Seemingly 6 hours later, Yang and Raven practiced blocking and kind of worked on dodging without saying what she needed to do. Yang didn't listen to her mother's advice. Work on just blocking? Nah. Yang wanted to take a step farther. Soon enough, the two began to spar without even intending it. Although Raven won every time. Yang didn't even get a hit in later on.

When Yang left the building, Raven was astonished. How is it that is blonde monkey who was her daughter, could be standing defiant and go toe to toe with her? Something didn't add up. Either that, or Yang was one fast learner.

A VERY fast learner.

When Yang drove back home, she once again, checked the mail. And what she saw surprised her. Within two days she's already got another match set up. The little note had something extra to it, this time.

 _'Guess the fans really like you. They were raving about you, from what we heard.'_

And with that, came the name of Yang's next opponent:

Bridget Dukes.

Interesting name for a tough opponent.

But then, Yang didn't know how to get in contact with Raven. She knew that if you had a couch they had to...coach you during a match, so Yang turned back around, wondering if she should go back into the city real quick and notify Raven. Then, she received a text on her Scroll. Yang pulled out her Scroll and read the message to herself:

 _'I'll see you at the building.'_

It was from an unknown number, but Yang knew that it was Raven. How did she get her number?!

Yang was shocked, but she couldn't let this get to her. She had a fight to prepare for.

Later that night, around 10:30, Yang helped her sister pick their dad up and bring him to bed, and when Ruby finally fell asleep, Yang snuck out of the house with her equipment in her bag. She wrapped the strap around her chest, and drove into the city.

When arriving, Raven was smoking a cigarette, while leaning up on the wall frame near the door. Yang parked Bumblebee nearby, and hopped off.

Yang removed the strap from her chest and held the bag in her right hand.

"You ready?" Raven asked her daughter, while putting out the cigarette. She threw it near the street. That in itself angered Yang slightly.

"No consideration for the environment?" Yang annoyingly scolded her mother.

This wasn't good. The two were bickering over such trivial matters. This certainly wasn't improving their relationship.

"Just go in." Raven smacked Yang's back in retribution after Yang raised her voice.

The two walked down the stairs together, just as Yang did a couple days ago. When the two reached the bottom of the stairwell, Yang led Raven to where they were last time. Yang and Raven were in the dressing room this time, and Yang went into the corner to change. She tried to find anywhere that covered up her body before she did.

"You scared I'd snap a picture of your butt or something?" Raven questioned Yang's choice to find somewhere to cover herself up.

"Can you just shut up?" Yang sighed and hissed at her trainer while taking off her clothes.

"You know, I have a question." Raven spoke up as she began to walk towards one of the benches in the room.

"What's that." Yang continued to growl. She HATED talking to her mom.

"How is it that you did what you did today?" Raven needed this answered. It's been nagging at her for so long. Yang took off her jacket and shirt, revealing part of her breasts. She then reached down, grabbing some clothing. It looked like her top.

"I thought about what a fighter would do. I didn't think about what I would do, what you would do; What an actual fighter would do." Yang said as she began to put her arms up and put on her sports bra.

"You saying I'm not a real fighter?" Raven objected to Yang's comment.

"No." Yang simply responded as she began to take off her shorts.

Raven nodded her head, understanding what Yang was saying. She just needed to know about the strike of...brilliance Yang showed a few hours prior.

Within 10 minutes, Yang was ready to fight. Raven helped out by wrapping Yang's fists in cloth. Afterwards, Raven helped Yang out by strapping on her gloves. Raven tapped Yang's gloves together. Yang nodded her head, signifying she was ready.

After the two finished preparations, Yang began to walk out towards the underground ring with her new trainer. Raven followed, letting Yang lead. Yang looked around, seeing the huge crowd of men, them shouting and screaming her name along with her opponent. Voices filled the underground arena, as Yang approached the ring. She stepped up the stairs and Raven opened the ropes for her. Yang ducked under and entered into the square circle. Soon after, her opponent, a long haired brunette came into the ring.

Miss Bridget Dukes had her hair in a ponytail. She had worn a black sports bra for this occasion, as well as black shorts and shoes. As for her gloves, they were red. She was actually really well toned. Yang never had seen a girl who had worked out this much.

Raven smacked her daughter's back as Yang began to walk towards the center. Bridget did as well. Bridget and Yang met at the center, staring into each other's eyes. Once again, the giant crowd swarmed the two fighters with constant screams. They wanted them to live out their wildest dreams. But the two battle-borns ignored their pleas and just stared into each other's eyes. But Bridget spoke.

"You actually need someone to help you?" Bridget chuckled slightly at Yang. "Pathetic."

Yang stayed silent. She wasn't answering to her.

Then, a thundering slam hit Yang's fists. Bridget smashed her gloves onto her opponent's.

"Why not just give up now?" Bridget spat at Yang. Yang's cheek was now covered a tiny bit in saliva. This bitch just SPIT on her!

Yang's rage bubbled. She let her temper get the better of her, and she head butted her opponent right then and there. Their heads conked, and Bridget backed away a bit. Fans in the audience roared in delight, getting some tension between two hot chicks already. Finally, Yang and Bridget walked back to their corners and awaited the bell to pound some heads in.

When Yang went back to her corner, Raven scolded her by saying "You let your temper get the better of you again. Seriously?!" Raven shouted as she had her hands on the ropes, screaming at her trainee.

"Just-! Be QUIET!" Yang has had enough of Raven's shit and just let loose. Her eyes turned crimson red. She got right up in her mother's face, wanting to pound it sooooo badly!

 ***DING!***

It would have to wait. Yang turned back around and put up her fists. She was in the orthodox stance just like her mother had taught her. Raven nodded her head, happy that Yang's following her example.

Yang and Bridget came closer and closer until-

BAM!

Bridget got the first hit in; A jab to Yang's cheek. And it wasn't good already. Bridget hit harder than any fighter she's faced before. Well, not as hard as Raven, but pretty damn close. Yang follows up by putting up her guard immediately. Bridget retaliated by throwing a body blow straight for Yang's abdomen. It was wide open. Yang didn't even try to defend it.

Raven already began to sigh. She placed her fingers on her forehead.

Yang stumbled backwards, catching herself right before her back hit the corner. Bridget advanced, smiling with glee at her opponent. She was weak. She couldn't fight back. Yang kept her guard up, hoping to block whatever hit Bridget threw. Bridget's right arm flew towards Yang's face. But...she had her guard up. Why attack?

Then, in an instant, Bridget disappeared from sight. She ducked below.

It was a feint!

Raven's eyes perched up with this reveal. She was interested again. Yang's eyes quickly found Bridget, bringing her right arm up for a hit to the side. But Yang responded immediately. She wasn't letting this girl get any more hits. The same adrenaline burst that began earlier started up again. Yang's right arm retaliated Bridget's blow by blocking it. Then, with the same arm, Yang ducked down to get to her level, then she stepped in, and threw a right hook, hitting Bridget's cheek!

And it really hurt her.

The impact caused Bridget's head to jerk sideways as spit escaped her mouth. The crowd in an uproar, wanting to see more. With that hit, Yang may have turned the tide, just like with Emily like last time.

Bridget stopped herself, and used her glove to wipe off the spit next to her mouth. And when the fighter's eyes locked, she laughed.

"Oh, this is gonna be FUN!" Bridget advanced back again. Yang charged as well, and the two met with an explosive entrance. Bridget threw a perfect right cross onto Yang's face, while Yang retaliated with a hit to Bridget's abdomen. Then the two were in a volley war. Both girls were throwing volleys with everything they got. Yang, however, was taking less hits. Why? She was actively dodging and weaving around. While Bridget was staying still, just letting every hit to her face, side, or abs hit. She was tanking all the damage, but how much could she take?

Yang then stepped in with her left foot, it slammed on the ground, making a booming sound. Her right fist was cocked back, ready to bang Bridget on the chin. As the fist got closer and closer, Raven got more and more interested. Yang's doing really good. Better than expected. Bridget's chin then was smashed by Yang's fist. The whole punch went through. Bridget's chin, though...

It didn't move.

She trained that chin. Really well. So after Yang's punch, Bridget smiled once again, and CRUSHED Yang's face with a haymaker.

Yang's body jolted backwards, her whole body slamming onto the corner. She began to lean on the ropes, and then Bridget made her move. She advanced, and while Yang was leaning over, arms wrapped around the ropes, Bridget released all her anger on her blonde opponent. Hooks were only thrown as Yang's head jerked to the left and right with each hit. Spit and blood began to fly across the ring. Only from her mouth at first, then a couple cuts began to show.

Bridget finally stopped after around 20 seconds.

But Yang fell.

Her second fight, she lost.

The bell rang, and Bridget threw her arms up in victory, taunting her near unconscious opponent.

As Yang looked at the blinding lights, she began to think:

 _'Do I really want to do this? Is THIS what I want to do with my life now?'_

And with that, Yang passed out.


	3. The First Sign

Raven sighed as she was driving to Yang's house using her daughter's motorcycle. Raven had Yang gripping her back, to keep her from falling off of the bike. Raven was mostly silent as she got closer and closer to her old home. Raven had trouble keeping herself contained.

When the bike pulled into the driveway, where Yang left it last, Raven got off, and picked up Yang, putting her on her back. She was still bloody from her fight with Bridget, since she was knocked unconscious. She couldn't activate her aura to heal her wounds. Raven looked at the wooden cottage, getting memories of her and Taiyang together. She shut her eyes and looked away, not wanting to remember those memories. Raven slowly walked to the door, and ever so slightly opened the door. The door made a light creaking sound, but Raven continued to open the door, a little cautious of Ruby and Taiyang waking up, but she was lucky enough to have no one come down and find her. Yet.

Raven continued to slowly walk through the house, going up the stairs to her right, all the way to Yang's room. Yang began to mumble as Raven was slowly making her way through the house. Raven stopped, hoping Yang would stop. She did, luckily. But as Raven was about to go up the stairs to Yang's room, she noticed something off in the kitchen. She saw two bottles of wine. Opened, both empty, and a glass that was partially drenched in red liquid.

 _'Tai...I'm sorry...'_ Raven thought to herself, as she wasn't exactly happy with how Taiyang was treating himself. Drinking himself to sleep? It wasn't healthy. Raven knew that Taiyang still mourned her and Summer. Raven frowned, looking away.

' _I can't come back...I just can't...'_ Raven muttered to herself as her eyes felt a little foggy. She began her trek up the stairs. Yang continued to slightly mutter gibberish. At this point, Raven began to sweat. Not because Yang was heavy, (She was) but because Raven was afraid she'd get caught. Raven just had to get Yang to her bedroom. That's it. Raven got her and her daughter up the stairs, seeing a door directly in front of her; Taiyang's room. She was extremely careful, turning to the left. While doing so, Raven heard a little sound come from the floor. She stopped, nervous that Tai or Ruby would wake up. But she heard nothing. Two doors were seen; One on the left and one on the right. Along with a window with a perfect view of the broken moon in the center of it all. Raven walked over to the window, looking up at the night sky. She then turned to the right, and opened the door to Yang's room. She had this house memorized, luckily, so she knew exactly where her little sun dragon's room was.

Raven walked into Yang's room, held her in her arms, and put Yang on her bed. Raven stood straight, looking down at her broken daughter. First, before Raven did anything, she walked over to the window, and opened it. She needed a quick escape. Then, she moved back to her daughter, looking at her closed, somewhat bloody eyes. Raven slowly bent down to Yang's side, seeming to lean in for a...

Kiss.

A kiss on the forehead. Just like a mother would do. But...something compelled her to stop. She stopped just short of Yang's forehead, realizing what she was doing.

' _Yang doesn't deserve my love. She just doesn't...'_ Raven quietly said to herself. Raven put her hand on her daughter's chest, and closed her eyes. Raven and Yang glowed, and Yang's wounds seemed to...heal. She was no longer bloody, she seemed perfectly fine. Raven used one of her tribe's techniques to share her aura with Yang, allowing the blonde bombshell to heal up quickly.

Now the problem was getting Yang into an appropriate attire.

Raven didn't really think this out. She probably should've done it BEFORE putting her on the bed, but everyone makes mistakes. Firstly, Raven did her best to slide off Yang's trunks, and very quickly put them in a backpack. Then, Raven went through Yang's drawers, trying to find anything that would work for pajamas. She found some pitch black shorts that she grabbed, and tried to put on Yang. Luckily she succeeded, and next was Yang's shirt. She didn't have to do this, but she felt like it was necessary. Raven looked through Yang's drawers again, this time finding a yellow and white shirt with her daughter's emblem on it; a burning heart. Raven rushed over to her daughter, lifted her now decently muscled upper chest up, and slid the shirt on. Now, her work was done.

*Crrreeeeaakkk*

Raven's ears perked up as she heard a door opening. Then, she heard some meaty footsteps coming towards the room. It was Tai.

 _'Shit!'_ Raven transformed into a...Raven, and flew out the window that she opened.

She needed that quick escape, just like she said.

Taiyang opened the door, only to see Yang sleeping peacefully, (and slightly snoring) the window cracked open, and it seemed like all was fine with the world. Tai scratched his head, wondering why he heard so many noises, but, he guessed it was his imagination. He turned around, but something caught his eye. He quickly turned back, only to see a raven's feather slowly falling to the ground. Taiyang walked into the room, and caught the feather.

"What the..." Taiyang examined the feather some more while wondering what was going on. Eventually, he gave up the ghost and left the room, going back to his own to sleep.

Raven was lucky. She was sitting atop a tree branch in the distance, watching Yang in the window. She cawed, and flew away.

The next day...

Yang woke up, laying on her bed, not knowing how she got back. She remembers lying on the floor after the bell rung, Bridget beating her to a bloody paste. And after that, everything was...a blur. She remembers...Raven grabbing her, dragging her away, and...that's it.

Yang sat up, noticing her window open slightly, just enough for a slight breeze. She looked around the room, wondering what happened. Nothing really got into her brain. She scratched her head, now looking at the backpack she has near her bed. Yang noticed something was sticking out of it. Yang walked over to the backpack, and opened it up a little bit more. It had her boxing attire in it. Including her gloves and boots!

Yang realized this was Raven's doing. She immediately got worried that she ran into her dad or Ruby. She walked downstairs, acting as normal as she could, and when she went into the kitchen, and saw her dad and little sister there, nothing seemed wrong.

"Good morning, Yang." Taiyang greeted her daughter.

"Morning, Dad." Yang greeted back, waving to her father. She walked over to the fridge, and opened it up. She was searching for any kind of beverage. Mainly milk. She needs to keep her girls in good health.

"How was your sleep?" Taiyang asked as he prepared an omelet for himself, Ruby, and Yang.

"It was good." Yang tried to keep that concept as out of mind as possible. Yang grabbed the milk jug and poured it into a cup she got from the cupboard. She walked over to the dining table, put down her glass for a second, (didn't want to spill it) and high fived Ruby. It was kinda like a greeting they have.

After Taiyang finished making their omelets, he sat down and had breakfast with them. While eating, Tai started off their conversation.

"Hey, Yang..." Taiyang started, turning to his daughter. (I don't think "blonde daughter" is really necessary as a descriptor, they're both blonde because...well, yeah.)

"Hm?" Yang looked up from her plate to see a mildly serious face.

"Did..." He hesitated a moment, almost regretting his inquisition. "...did you see any feathers in your room this morning?"

"Huh? Feathers? No." Yang shockingly responded. Why would feathers be in her room? The answered seemed to satisfy Tai, though, and he nodded in response.

"Alright. I just saw a black feather fall from the top of your room. Not sure what that could be."

Once again, his face became puzzled and somewhat troubled as he started another question. "Although..."

"What, Dad?" Ruby leaned forward, food still in her mouth, anxious to hear what her dad had to say. But her curiosity seemed to kill his, as he shook his head and surrendered that thought with a response of "Nothing. It's nothing."

"What is it-"

"Ruby. It's nothing." Yang put her arm out, blocking her sister from leaning in any further. Ruby pouted in response, as she leaned back into her chair and continued to eat her omelette.

Tai continued to eat in silence, while Yang was caught in the middle. She reached for her cup, and drank some milk. Afterwards, she thought,

 _'It's Raven, isn't it?'_

Yang finished her breakfast and got up. She rushed up the stairs and grabbed the backpack with all her fight equipment in it, and began to leave.

"I'm going out." Yang called out to her family.

"Where are you going?" Taiyang questioned his daughter.

"I've got some...errands to run. Not sure how long I'll be." Yang responded to her dad's request.

"Alright...be careful." Tai requested of Yang.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Yang smiled, and left the house. She got on Bumblebee and drove out to Raven's gym yet again.

 _'Did Raven heal me? She had to have healed me...'_ Yang thought to herself. Yang looked forward, focusing on the road ahead of her.

After driving for a little, Yang found herself in front of Raven's gym yet again. However, this was the last day of the weekend for her. She had to go to school the next day. So, she would've had to make the most of today.

She walked up to the door, but she found a note on it. It was obviously from Raven. It said,

"Meet me at this address, and bring a swimsuit."

The bottom of the letter had the address Yang was supposed to go to, which made her a little scared. Was it a public area? Would she have to train in public? Hopefully not.

Yang got back on her motorcycle, and drove back home real quick.

 _'Seriously?! She obviously could've sent me a text, she could've left me a note in that backpack! ANYTHING! This is just a waste of time!'_ Yang growled in her head as she drove on the road back to her house. Yang quickly parked her ride, and rushed inside the house. She slammed open the door and ran upstairs.

"Yang?!" Taiyang called out, as he was doing dishes in the kitchen.

"Hang on, sorry! I forgot something!" Yang called from upstairs. She rushed into her room, and looked in one of her drawers. She pulled out a two-piece yellow and white swimsuit, quickly put it in her backpack, and rushed back downstairs. She slammed the door, and rushed back on Bumblebee. She rushed away, cranking up the accelerator. She rushed away quickly, leaving her home behind in the dust.

 _'Good god, Raven...ugh!'_ Yang groaned to herself as she drove into the city.

Yang continued to drive until she found herself outside what looked like a public pool area. She got up, and looked at the sign.

"Public Swimming Pool, Available to everyone!"

Yang sighed, as she actually *DID* need to train in public. She'll look like an idiot. And Raven will be to blame. But, something was off: she found a note on the front of the door leading inside, saying,

"Pool closed for today, Problems with filters."

Yang was surprised, as she didn't expect that the pool would be closed...

 _'Wait...'_ Yang quickly realized what *actually* is the case.

Yang walked inside, but found that the area was completely quiet. She didn't hear any splashing, any conversations, nothing.

Yang walked through the doors into a massive pool, easily deep enough to submerge herself to the bottom. And near the entrance to the water, was Raven. Same outfit as before. She wasn't even wearing a swimsuit.

"Morning, Yang." Raven nodded her head in Yang's direction, letting off a slight smile.

"You couldn't even tell me the night before or in some way before getting up and leaving that I had to bring a swimsuit?!" Yang shouted at Raven, upset at her morning chaos at the house.

"Sorry, I just couldn't get a scroll to text you about it." Raven responded, putting her hands on her hips.

Yang huffed, and shook her head. She began to walk over to a side room, that had "locker room" on it, and as she was about to enter it, she muttered,

"Thanks." Yang quietly muttered.

"What?" Raven looked at her daughter's golden locks, turning her attention to her.

"Thanks for bringing me back last night." Yang said as she put her hand on the door.

"You're welcome." Raven smiled slightly, looking at her daughter with pride.

Yang nodded, and walked through the door. After closing it, Raven chuckled a little bit. She was...gleeful. But Raven quickly forgot something. She quickly ran through the door, and pulled out some cloth wraps.

"Yang!" Raven called out.

"Raven?!" Yang cried out as well.

"I've got some wraps for you!" Raven shouted, tossing the cloth wraps into the air. Yang was lucky enough to see the cloth wraps, or rather, Raven threw them in the correct direction.

Yang grabbed them in the air, and she put them to her side.

A little later...

Yang slowly emerged from the changing room, wearing her two-piece yellow and white swimsuit, as well as having cloth wrapped around her fists.

Yang was blushing and awkwardly emerging from the room, afraid to look at her mother wearing what she was wearing.

Raven made no reaction whatsoever, just having her arms crossed.

"I can't believe you're making me swim." Yang hissed, looking at the ground with her face red as a beet.

"Uh, Yang, why in the world do you think that I had you wrap your fists?" Raven responded, condescendingly.

"I dunno." Yang shrugged her shoulders.

"Wha...ugh..." Raven facepalmed, and groaned. "You're going to be shadowboxing underwater."

"Shadowboxing?" Yang responded immediately after Raven finished.

"You...you don't know about shadowboxing?" Raven looked dumbfounded.

"No..." Yang slowly replied.

"Y-wha-" Raven was completely stumped.

Later...

Yang and Raven were beginning the basis of shadowboxing together, side by side outside the pool. They were just weaving and throwing punches around as if there were an invisible opponent in front of them. Their punches and movement were very well done, moving around so elegantly, and rather professionally. Yang had a good teacher.

Yang and Raven threw a jab together straight in front of them. Then, they stopped.

"Good, good. Now, get in the water." Raven ordered to her daughter.

"Huh?" Yang turned to her mother, confused.

"Get in." Raven motioned with her hand to have Yang jump in.

"No! Why would I-"

"You're getting in." Raven leaned back, and pushed her daughter.

"Augh- what the-"

*SPLASH*

Yang fell into the water, making bubbles after screaming underwater. She swam to the surface, and when her head touched the top...

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"I told you to get in." Raven shrugged her shoulders, and putting her hands in her pockets.

"You didn't have to kick me in!" Yang shouted again, throwing her arms up and splashing the water.

"Just, listen. Go to a surface where you can stand." Raven sighed, and used her arm to gesture an area towards the entrance of the pool.

"Fine..." Yang growled, and swam over to a shallow area. Deep enough for the water to reach her neck, and deep enough to sink her head underneath.

"Now, begin to shadowbox with your fists under the water." Raven ordered.

"What? That's...why?" Yang questioned as she stared up at her mother.

"Because it'll help. The water gives you resistance. But training with the water fighting against you is incredibly efficient. You'll be able to build up strength in your muscles. It may be a bitch to do right now, but once you get the hang of doing it in the pool, you'll be as light as a fly on the ground." Raven smiled, explaining the reasoning behind this decision.

"Wha...okay..." Yang balled her fists, and got in her stance. Yang attempted to begin to shadowbox. It felt...awkward to say the least. To Yang, it felt like wading through wet cement. It was hard. Really hard. Within seconds, she complained yet again.

"Ugh! How am I supposed to do this?!" Yang complained, looking up to her mother, her hair floating above the water.

"Just shadowbox as normal. It'll just take time to get used to it. Go on." Raven waved her hand as a gesture to continue.

"I...*sigh* fine..." Yang stood up, no longer hovering above the water. Yang breathed in and sunk down to the bottom. She balled her fists, and got into her stance. She closed her eyes for a moment. And in her psyche, she envisioned...

An opponent, as if she were in an actual fight!

Yang opened her eyes, and did her best to envision that same outline of a girl in front of her.

The "shadow" as she called it, slowly advanced towards her. Yang got up on her toes. The shadow threw a jab, and Yang retaliated by weaving her head to the left, and countering with her right. It was slow, but that didn't matter just yet. This was her first time. Then, the shadow countered back, by shifting her weight over to the right. Yang moved along with her, always trying to face her. The shadow then went for two jabs and a hook. Yang weaved around, and stepped forward and went for a right hook for the midsection. But it didn't end up hitting the shadow. She dodged out of the way. And even though she wasn't talking, the shadow seemed to be taunting Yang. Motioning with her fist to come at her again. Yang stepped forward, and threw two right hooks for the shadow's cheeks. But, the shadow retaliated with an uppercut to Yang's chin. And right as she was about to hit, She disappeared, and Yang swam to the surface.

Raven began to clap.

"Good. Good. I could see you moving around beneath the water. You were moving around well. Just not well enough." Raven critiqued Yang's shadowboxing.

"Well...I tried to...envision my...opponent like you said.." Yang slowly said to her trainer, as she was still trying to catch her breath.

"Good. You're learning quickly." Raven bent over, and looked at her daughter square in the eye. "But you're not done yet. Again!" Raven demanded.

Yang took another deep breath, and she sunk underwater again. Her feet hit the floor, and she got into her stance again. Yang closed her eyes, and the shadow seemed to be waiting for her.

Yang and the shadow continued to circle each other, throwing punch after punch, weaving, and dodging around the pool. Yang had trouble keeping up. She just couldn't stay on the same level of speed as her opponent. Yang kept getting "hit" over and over again. Yang couldn't even hit her "opponent" underwater. And every time, it kept frustrating her. Every time she'd come up to the surface, Raven would tell her to try again. And Yang did.

But every time she got nowhere. Finally, after maybe four hours of shadowboxing underwater, Yang had enough. She came up to the surface, exhausted, drained, and over this underwater training.

"I'm done. I've been at this for god knows how long. I'm getting nowhere." Yang complained as she moved her arms up on the concrete.

"Hmm...Let's see...get out of the water real quick." Raven stroked her chin, and motioned with her hand to have Yang get out. Yang did, and asked for a towel to dry off.

"Not yet." Raven denied Yang's towel.

"Why?" Yang threw her arms up into the air in response.

"Try shadowboxing now." Raven demanded. She continued to stroke her chin. Yang rolled her eyes, and got into her stance yet again.

And almost immediately, she began jumping up and down. More like hopping. Yang closed her eyes, and envisioned the shadow yet again. When she emerged in front of Yang. Yang got the jump on her "opponent." She sprung forward and threw a hook right for the shadow's sides! But, something seemed off.

Yang felt light as air. Her movement wasn't very taxing on her. Yang smiled, and chuckled. She looked ahead and saw the shadow shaking her head back and forth, as if it was shaking off the pain. Yang advanced yet again, and this time she threw two left jabs, and then a right hook. Afterwards, Yang fired a right cross into a left body blow. The shadow kept staggering. Yang was gitty with excitement! Afterwards, the shadow went on the offensive. But Yang let that happen. Normally, Yang would punish her opponent in that staggered state, but Yang wanted to see how easy it would be to dodge now. When the shadow approached, Yang bounced on her toes, staying as light on her feet as possible.

The shadow threw volleys and volleys at the blonde pugilist, But Yang dodged and weaved around with ease. Most punches were hooks aimed at an angle and crosses aimed for Yang's face, but Yang just kept dodging. Yang huffed, and stepped forward with her left foot. Afterwards, she cocked back a right body blow and when it connected, the shadow disappeared. To Yang, she had won.

"YES!" Yang jumped up into the air in celebration.

"Good, good. I'm surprised you were able to move like a feather. I'm impressed. Now, I do need you to do something for me." Raven chuckled a little bit, happy with Yang's progress.

"What's that?" Yang asked, before turning around to see a towel being thrown in her face. The blonde grabbed it and began to dry herself off.

"I've got this list for you. I want you to start applying this to your daily regimen." Raven held out a piece of paper she worked on while Yang was shadowboxing.

"Hmm.." Yang dried off her hands well enough to hold the paper. And on it, it read,

1\. 10 mile run  
2\. 250 push ups (150 one handed)  
3\. 200 sit ups  
4\. 100 pull ups  
5\. Jump rope for 30 minutes  
6\. Shadowbox for 30 minutes  
Repeat

Yang's eyes widened at how much work she'd have to do to complete all of these requirements.

"It's a lot. Get used to it. Cause if you don't, you'll never be able to keep up in the long run." Raven said to Yang.

"R-Right..." Yang's arm began to shake. She was worried she couldn't keep up with everything.

"I'd suggest doing this twice a day. Do one full routine in the morning, the earlier the better. And one near the evening. For example, start at, say...five o'clock in the morning-"

"FIVE A.M.?!" Yang screeched, not happy at these "suggestions" Raven was giving her.

"Yeah." Raven replied casually.

"Wha...?!" Yang stuttered once again.

"...And one at around evening. Maybe around seven or eight o'clock. That way you can run off and work off all that food old Tai made for you." Raven smiled.

"Don't..talk about him." Yang's mood just took a full 180. Yang tapped her foot, upset at Raven for bringing up her father. She wasn't even in the mood to train any more for the day.

"I..." Raven stopped herself, not wanting to make Yang any more mad. "Alright. Just try and fulfill this, okay?" Raven requested.

"Fine." Yang flicked the paper away, and stormed away from her mother, almost racing over to the changing rooms.

 _'Okay, first thing not to mention in front of Yang: Taiyang...Jeez...'_ Raven made a mental note to herself.

Yang emerged from the changing rooms a few minutes later, too upset to even say goodbye. All she did was storm away, in a heat of rage, and left the building.

Leaving Raven all alone, to think on her actions.

Later on that day, Yang was just hanging around in her room, checking social media sites on her scroll. Yang put her scroll on her bed, and she sighed. And after that, Yang looked at her closet. She got up, and began to search through her closet for some warm clothes. She ended up finding some gray sweatpants and a gray hood that she worn as a kid. She put both on, as well as some fingerless gloves.

Yang rushed down the stairs and out the door. She began to stretch out her legs, and jumped up and down. A slight breeze was in the air. Yang huffed, and she began to run.

Yang ran all throughout Patch, hoping to eventually find a place to stop that is 5 miles from her house. Yang jogged past the forest near her house, she jogged past various buildings, and eventually found herself in front of Raven's gym!

Yang bent over, and breathed heavily. She couldn't run anymore. She then pulled out her Scroll, and she then pulled up an application.

It read 10 miles.

She would end up running DOUBLE the amount!

Yang's eyes widened, and she then whined. Yang then turned around and began to run back home. Her route didn't change on the way home.

After running back home, Yang nearly collapsed. But she didn't Yang stopped short of the door, and just stopped to breathe. She bent over, and tried to just catch her breath. Yang felt like if she sat down she wouldn't get up. After waiting for maybe a minute, Yang opened the door and stumbled up the stairs. She nearly collapsed yet again, sweating buckets as she began to take off her clothes and put on some more revealing clothing.

She put on her workout clothes, and she began to do her 250 pushups. It hurt to move, but she had to. Yang began her push ups on her floor.

"Yang!"

Yang was too focused to hear the call out.

"Yang!"

Yang pushed herself up. Her face was already red. She could see the sweat slowly drip off her face.

"YANG!"

Yang then lowered herself to the ground. Then, she pushed herself up again.

Someone began to stomp over towards Yang's room. The sound seemed very loud and more...meaty. Taiyang was getting towards Yang's room.

"Yang!" Taiyang slammed open the door in anger. When he opened the door, he didn't see his daughter on her bed. He heard grunting. He looked down, and saw Yang's golden mane full of sweat.

"Y-Yang?" Taiyang stepped back a little bit.

Yang stopped her pushup, and looked up. "Oh! Dad..." Yang breathed heavily, and she continued to push herself off the ground.

"Uh...y-you know that Dinner's ready, right?" Taiyang questioned his daughter.

"Oh-is it?" Yang breathed in heavily, her arm and hand veins popping out.

"Hey, Dad? Where's the..." Ruby came up behind Taiyang. "Yang? What are you doing?" Ruby looked down to see her older half-sister sweating buckets and doing pushups.

"I'm trying to work out..." Yang sighed, breathing in some more air.

"We know." Taiyang replied. "Can you just come down for dinner?" Taiyang requested.

"Alright..." Yang sighed, and stood up. She slowly made her way down the stairs.

"Ruby? What did you need?" Taiyang slowly asked her daughter.

"Uh...where's the milk? We're out..." Ruby slowly replied to her dad's question.

"It's, um...in the garage..." Taiyang answered back.

"Okay..." Ruby once again replied, this time walking down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Taiyang just stared at the stairs.

 _'What are you up to...?'_


	4. Letting It All Out

*Chomp* *Munch*

Taiyang prepared dinner for his kids. Oven baked chicken with some vegetables. It wasn't anything truly special. And there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Except for the fact that Yang was chowing through it like she hadn't eaten in days. But, considering that she had ran 10 miles before hand and almost was about to begin a workout routine she couldn't finish (since she was on an empty stomach), it was justified. But Taiyang and Ruby didn't know the details. So they were just watching Yang go through all her dinner like a savage wolf.

"So..Yang, you taking up working out again?" Taiyang was just watching his daughter chow through her chicken dinner.

"Mmmm hmmm!" Yang mumbled as she was eating through her chicken breast.

"You're not going to abandon it like you did all those other times?" Ruby added her opinion to the mix, taking a sip from her milk glass. Yang shook her head in response. Yang swallowed her mouthful of chicken and began to talk again.

"Yeah, I'm gonna keep doing that. I'm not going to give up on it this time. Why do you ask?" Yang asked around the dinner table with food in her mouth.

"Don't speak with your mouth open, young lady. And, well, it's just that the last time you got serious about that was...what, when you were 13? When you were hot-headed...you still are..." Taiyang began going off on his mental notes.

"Not denying it, to a degree." Yang shrugged her shoulders.

"But, is something going on? You having people giving you problems at school again? Am I going to have to come down and deal with the principal again?" Taiyang stared at his daughter seriously.

"No, nothing's going on. I'm just trying to get into some good habits for good now that I'm older and more mature." Yang responded.

*snirk* Ruby snickered at that comment. "More mature? Yeah, right." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Yang hissed at Ruby.

"Oh, nothing..." Ruby looked away from her sister who was staring daggers at her.

"Okay, as long as you're not lying to me about anything." Taiyang said as he clenched his fists on the table. Yang stared at her father with a serious expression, only for her eyes to change color to crimson red.

"I'm. Not. Lying. About. Anything." Yang gripped her knife hard. While Yang is lying at the current moment, she had to sell it. And, she does despise it when she is held accountable for lying when she didn't do anything. Which is why she does sometimes hate dealing with school officials when she gets into trouble.

"Drop the knife." Taiyang ordered, as he got in Yang's face a bit, giving a direct command.

Yang placed the knife on the table and just clenched her fist instead. She realized she went too far there. But she was in the heat of the moment.

"Alright, now that you don't have a weapon in your hand, I believe you." Taiyang nodded his head, backing off a bit and lowering his tone.

 _'Good.'_ Yang mentioned to herself.

"Now can we continue eating, please?" Taiyang requested of his daughters.

"Yeah." Ruby and Yang nodded as they looked back down at their plates.

The family ate in silence after that. Yang threatening her father cut the mood out of the group. Yang continued to chew through her chicken. She finished the first out of all of her family, put her dish and drink glass away in the dishwasher, and rushed back upstairs. Now that Yang had her stomach full, she could...hopefully get a workout going and work it off.

Yang closed her door, and opened all her windows. She needed some airflow. Yang stripped down, and put on a yellow sports bra and black gym shorts. Then, she got back on her workout regimen. She began back from 1, doing her push ups first. She lowered herself to the ground, then bringing herself back up. She did it again. And again. And again. The sun slowly disappeared. And following it came the moon.

Yang's mind was racing, thinking about how well this will work for her. Raven was doing a decent job? Maybe? Yang is still a little disappointed since she did lose two matches; the ONLY matches she's participated in. Yang lowered herself to the ground again. Her head began to drop sweat.

 _'So, Raven, ya think this will work? Cause I sure hope so. Lost two matches in a row. Not even sure if everything you're doing is working for me.'_ Yang thought to herself. She raised herself off the ground. She then moved on to her one handed pushups next. She pushes herself up once again, sweat drops dripping from her body. Her arms feeling a little sore already. This was her first true workout in who knows how long. At least outside of training.

 _'Why did you even help me? You were nothing but a bitch to me and my family for close to a decade. Why come back now? Your explanation at the bar was kinda...shitty. And c'mon, Raven. You're not a very good liar.'_

Yang finished her one-handed pushups. They were slower due to her body already being tired. Yang sighed, and wiped some sweat from her brow. She then moved on to her sit ups. She lay on the ground, her upper body in a bit of an angle.

 _'What have I been doing wrong? I'm doing all of Raven's training. Why can't I win a fight?'_ Yang asked herself. She pushed her upper body up slowly. She groaned, her upper body, once again, feeling sore. _'It shouldn't be this hard... maybe it's just bad luck?'_ Yang raised her body up again. She groaned, her upper body coated with sweat and her skin color turning red. She exhaled a deep breath. Yang then lowered herself back down to the floor and continued. _'Am I just bad or...what?'  
_  
After going silent yet again for a bit, Yang finished her 200 sit ups. Yang breathed hard, wiping some sweat from her forehead with a towel she got from Raven and her gym.

She paused her workout and looked out the window of her room for a second and saw the broken moon up in the sky. She sighed, and stared at it's beauty.

She turned around, and tried to find anything she could use for a pull up bar. She then found a bar above her doorframe. She then jumped up slightly, and grabbed ahold of it.

 _'The rest of this workout is gonna suck...'_ Yang thought to herself as she began her 100 pull ups.

Over the thirty minutes, Yang intensely concentrated on her workout, completely forgetting that she didn't buy any jump rope to bring home. She just won't tell Raven. It's not like she'll know.

Yang finished her workout a little while later. She was exhausted. She nearly collapsed after she finished her workout. She almost wanted to just sleep right then and there, but she got some clothes and went to take a shower. She turned on the warm water and let it flow over her sweaty body. She put her hand on the wall, and just stood there. Deep in her thoughts. She needed some time to sort things out after thinking for a while.

Yang finished her shower a bit later than usual. She dried herself off, put on her clothes and brushed her teeth. She then walked out, her golden mane shining bright, and nearly collapsed on her bed.

-

Yang was at school about 12 hours later. After finishing up one of her classes, she walked out, and began to walk to her next one. While walking, she bumps into another girl, white hair, a single ponytail on the right side of her head, a white dress, or as the petty girl would call it, a "combat skirt." She also had on knee-high white boots.

"Watch where you're going!" The girl barked at Yang.

"Sorry!" Yang sighed, calling out to the girl. The white haired girl huffed, and simply walked away. She ignored Yang's call. _'Jeez, rude much.'_

Yang and Raven met up after school again.

They did it for two weeks. And over those two weeks, nothing happened. Yang just trained, and trained, and trained.

But something seemed off to Yang. Over those two weeks, Raven had been easing up on Yang's training and her strictness. When Yang made a mistake, Yang instinctively emotionally primed herself for a scolding. But instead, Raven mostly shrugged it off, simply providing pointers. Raven's initial hardass persona faded. It made Yang...uneasy. Nevertheless, Yang still kept up her normal training regimen, and didn't slack off just because Raven was being easy on her more so than usual. But one thing really tipped her off.

 **One Week and four days later...  
**  
One day, after a workout, Yang was wrapping up at Raven's gym, when she noticed that Raven was being a lot more...different. Being softer as a person. Her evil-ish persona had vanished that day. She was being...nice. Standing ringside, Yang gained the courage to ask Raven something.

"Hey, Raven?" Yang slowly asked her mother.

"Yeah?" Raven turned to face Yang, looking a little concerned.

"Uh...A-are you okay? You've been rather nice to me recently, and...that's not like you." Yang slowly replied to her mother, her body feeling a little...weird while answering. She was in an awkward position. Raven avoided the question by not saying anything and no longer making eye contact with her daughter. She only exhaled.

 _'So something is up with her.'_ Yang silently pondered. She stroked her chin. Yang then slowly approached her. Raven backed up in response. Yang stopped as soon as Raven made a movement.

"What's up with you?" Yang stuttered, as she looked Raven in the eye.

"I..." Raven paused, looking like she was trying to think of what to say.

"Out with it."

"I want to get to know you, Yang." Raven answered. Yang looked dumbfounded, almost in an angry way.

"You want to *what?*" Yang replied back, clenching her fists together.

"I want to know you as a person. I want to see what kind of woman you grew up to-"

 ***SMACK***

Yang's hand collided with Raven's cheek. Some spit flew out of Raven's mouth at the impact. After the slap's sting faded away, Raven clutched her cheek. She and Yang began to hyperventilate. One was a little scared, and the other was pissed.

"You want to get to KNOW ME?! Well, I guess I could tell you, Raven, it's almost as if you're my mother! Wait...YOU AREN'T." Yang screamed into Raven's face, her eyes ablaze.

"W-Wait, hear me out-"

"NO! You don't get the chance! If you stayed and lived with us as a family, then you would've been able to see first hand what kind of girl I grew up to be!"

"Yang, please..."

"Don't "Yang, please" me! You abandoned me and my family when we had nothing! Summer died! Ruby was just born! Dad was in an emotional coma! And what do you do? Leave and never return for 13 FUCKING YEARS! And when you do come back, you act like the cocky bastard you are! Acting as if nothing had happened! You just shrugged off the past like it was nothing!"

Yang then balled a fist and punched Raven in the cheek. Raven staggered and leaned on the ropes, her eyes full of fear. Yang then charged at Raven, grabbing her neck and choking her. Raven grabbed her daughter's hand and tried to pull it off.

"You don't have the right to know me, Bitch." Yang coldly hissed, throwing Raven on the cold concrete floor, and storming outside, grabbing her stuff and slamming open the doors.

"Yang, wait!" Raven cried out, her arm extended to the door, but all that she was met with was a cold stare by her daughter at the exit. Yang then left. Raven heard the rev of Bumblebee and it slowly faded away.

"Yang..." Raven laid on the floor, her right hand over her neck.

She then started crying.

CRYING.

Raven's surroundings turned black. All she could hear was the sound of herself crying. Her eyes were filled with tears, her vision misty, And all she could think of was Yang.

 **She really did miss her.**

 **Three Days Later...**

Yang came home from school. Her body was now much more well toned. Yang had now gained a full on six-pack of abs below her chest. The actual abs may have been slightly noticeable, but it's better than her slender, non-muscular body before hand. Her arms were a lot more...defined, having some more muscle on them. They weren't just thin. They had some level of depth on them now. And if she hit you hard enough, even lightly, it would sting a little. Yang overall had been hard working over the past two weeks, honing her skills, building endurance a little bit, and becoming a better boxer.

Yang walked over to the mail that day to see that her next opponent was selected: A young girl by the name of Sarah. Yang tucked the slip of paper into her pocket, and picked up the rest of the mail.

Later that night, Yang and Raven met up at the same spot as before, right in front of the door to the underground arena. They walked down the stairs of the abandoned building. The two stepped into the changing room, right outside the arena. Yang changed into her fighting attire almost as quickly as she got into the room. She had Raven help with getting her gloves on, and her boots. Yang stood up, and began to shadowbox. Working in the pool was helping her out a lot.

The only greeting and exchange the two had was Yang giving Raven a simple "hmph." As Yang and Raven exited the changing room, they were greeted by what seemed like hundreds of rabid fans shouting out, commenting on how hot Yang was looking, and by extension, in the audience's eyes, the MILF Raven. The two didn't comment or make any reaction at all.

Yang entered the ring with Raven's help, only to see her opponent standing opposite of her; Sarah. A brunette, lightly toned body. Seemed slender enough, not much muscle packing her. Her main color was pink. Wearing a pink top, shorts, boots and gloves.

Yang and Sarah met at the center, staring each other down. Yang offered her gloves to the girl, and Sarah accepted. They were silent, creating a ring full of tension. The tension almost gave the two girls a big sense of weight.

Yang and Sarah stepped away from each other and in their corners. Raven handed Yang her mouthpiece, and Yang opened her mouth and placed it inside. She turned around and jumped up and down. Raven didn't say a word. Not after what happened.

Yang smiled, her top teeth being covered by the mouthpiece. Yang then pounded her gloves got into her stance. With her gloves extended, Yang awaited the bell.

 ***DING!***

Yang and Sarah both advanced, circling around the ring slowly. Yang was being smart this time, not going immediately in for a hit. Something she learned after Raven whupped her ass many times.

Sarah started off with a couple jabs to test Yang's guard. Yang blocked them with the palm of her glove. Yang easily was dealing with Sarah's attacks. She bobbed and weaved around Sarah's punches, quickly and efficiently working her new reflexes to their limits. Yang backed up, agile on her feet. Sarah advanced, her fists moving around a little bit. Possibly to fake out her opponent. Yang kept her guard up, her right hand closest to her face, practically placing it on there as a resting point.

Yang backed up yet again, hoping to have Sarah go in for a quick punch. Sarah stayed where she was. She wasn't falling into this trap. But not only was the audience getting a little disappointed, just having them stare at each other, but Yang was getting aggravated. Yang sighed and charged Sarah, and Raven herself sighed in disappointment at simply seeing Yang's feet get ready for a charge.

Yang charged for Sarah, going in for a volley of punches at Sarah's midsection. Sarah was taking the blows...somehow. Yang kept going, but she didn't realize that her face was wide open! Sarah let loose a wild right hook for Yang's cheek, saliva flying out of the blonde's mouth. Yang stood her ground, recovering her footing rather quickly. But Sarah followed up with yet another right hook, this one not as powerful, however. Yang's head stuttered yet again. She stumbled backwards, keeping her guard up as best she could. The audience crying out in pleasure, Sarah smiled and continued to advance. Yang wasn't going to let this girl just take her down like the others, however.

When Sarah advanced, Yang ducked low, and loaded back an uppercut for Sarah's stomach. The uppercut connected, and Yang's punch successfully stunned Sarah into stopping her advance and to Yang, it felt like her punch went through Sarah. It truly ripped through her midsection. Sarah gagged, stumbling backwards and the two circling in the center yet again.

 _'Come on, make your-'_ Yang thought to herself before being on the receiving end of a cross by Sarah yet again. Yang grunted, annoyed, now. Sarah wasn't truly reacting to ANYTHING Yang had done; even after that monstrous uppercut to Sarah's abdomen, Sarah's not giving Yang an opening. "Rrrrgh!" Yang growled as Sarah cockily smiled. Yang backed up, getting free of Sarah's punch, but something...different sprouted inside of her.

Her old rage came back.

Yang screamed out, her face facing the ceiling. Then, the old blazing light flew up into the sky.

Raven's eyes opened; Her expression stern. She wasn't happy with what Yang was doing.

When the light disappeared, Yang's eyes burned red yet again, her hair ablaze once again, It was just like thirteen years ago. And the various other times it had happened throughout her life...And now, Sarah would be the one to suffer her wrath.

Sarah was scared and confused. "What the hell? What are you?" She exclaimed, but she was only met with another icy cold glare by Yang. Yang advanced, and forgot all about defense. She wouldn't need it now. Yang threw a lightning fast uppercut for Sarah's chin, her head cracking upwards. Yang's teeth grinded against her mouthguard, and she felt happy that she got that out of her. Sarah somehow recovered after that, responding with a one-two pair of jabs. But Yang simply took them, feeling their impact,

And returning the favor.

Yang threw her own one-two set of jabs, except these punches' damages were multiplied by five. At least it felt like it to Sarah. Her head cracked back with each one, her body aching so quickly. Sarah stumbled back and leaned on the ropes. She tried to raise her guard, but failed to do so. Yang only growled like a savage animal, now throwing a volley of punches for Sarah's body and face. Damaging her with each one, she didn't stop until Sarah fell to her knees.

It took 10 seconds.

Ten whole seconds for Sarah to fall.

When she did, Yang stopped her rage filled punch volley and stepped away. The referee got between the two and looked at Sarah. She was out cold.

The referee threw her arms up into the air, calling the match. Several seconds later...

"The winner, is Yang Xiao Long!"

-

Yang didn't remember the fight. She only remembered the beginning and after, when she won. Yang was walking to the changing room with Raven, trying to recall the events that just happened. When the two entered, Yang sat herself down on the bench, and Raven simply stood, staring at Yang.

"What... happened-"

 ***SMACK***

Another smack filled the room, Yang's cheek stinging after the impact.

"I can't believe you used your semblance." Raven said, disappointed.

"Wha-why?" Yang flabbergastingly answered.

"Using your semblance is a get out of jail free card. I'm NOT counting that fight as a win." Raven responded coldly. She turned around and walked away slightly.

"A win is a win, right? Doesn't matter how you get it, a win is a win!" Yang responded with her own argument.

"A win by CHEATING is not a win at all. You want to succeed?! Put in the damn work!" Raven shouted back, her fists clenched and her hair covering her eyes.

"Wh..." Yang was about to say something but she stopped herself. It wouldn't make a difference.

"Raven, a few days ago-"

"Don't talk about that." Raven stopped her, Her body language unchanging. Yang silently sat, not saying anything.

"But...I'm..." Raven stuttered in her delivery.

"You what?" Yang perked her head up.

"I'm sorry." Raven sadly answered back. "I'm sorry that I left. I care, Yang. I really do. Can you forgive me?" Raven almost...pleaded her daughter.

"...No."

"..." Raven silently stood still, staring at the ground.

"No, I don't forgive you." Yang growled, standing up and beginning to leave. As she was about to, Raven snatched her arm and gripped it tight. And Yang was met with a crying mother's face.

"Please, daughter...please..." Raven pleaded once again.

Yang pulled away.

"No." Yang then walked out the door. Raven stood in silence once again, alone with no one to comfort her.

"I'm going to keep trying!" Raven cried out once last time before Yang disappeared up the stairs.

Yang, as she was leaving, thought one final thing to herself:

 _'At least not yet.'_


	5. Future Contender

It's been 4 days.

Yang's only trained at home and tried her best to stay in shape. That's all she could do. Yang and Raven already had problems resurfacing, and it only would've most likely made it worse if they talked about it right now. Their emotions are still running high. Yang lay on her bed, alone, in her room, staring at the ceiling. Her first win had been achieved. But Yang doesn't feel like it's a win. Raven's words began to sink into her head: That using her semblance doesn't count as a win. Yang slipped into a depressed state. She put all that work in and all it amounted to was shame and dis-taste.

*Knock knock*

"Yes?" Yang turned her head slightly to face her door. The door cracked open to see Ruby peeking her head through.

"Hey, Yang. Is this a bad time?" Ruby sheepishly asked her half-sister.

"No, what's up?" Yang faced her half-sister completely.

"Um..." Ruby turned around and closed the door after entering the room. "You've been a little...sad lately. Everything okay?" Ruby questioned Yang as she slowly entered Yang's room.

"No, not really. ...Sorry that I give off that sad vibe, sis." Yang replied to Ruby, placing her hands behind her head.

"You sure? It's almost like someone...I don't know, emotionally hurt you or something. I don't know, but you've been quiet for a while." Ruby pointed out, trying to see if she can get any information out of Yang.

"I swear to you, it's nothing." Yang reassured her sister. But Ruby was still unsure.

"Um, can I...?" Ruby slowly asked if she could cuddle up next to Yang on her bed.

"Sure." Yang patted her bed twice on the spot Ruby could lay on. Ruby walked over to Yang's bed and she plopped on top of it.

"Yang, I want you to know that you can rely on me." Ruby said as she put her hands over her chest and stared up at the ceiling.

"Huh?" Yang looked at her sister while wrapping her arm around her.

"I want you to know that you can trust me with anything. You know that, right?" Ruby said softly, moving her eyes to see Yang.

"I know that, Ruby. What makes you think I don't trust you?" Yang said back, a little worried for Ruby now.

"I just don't want you to get hurt. Okay? I don't want you to get hurt. I want to protect you. I-"

"Rubes. I know you do. Don't worry. I won't get into anything bad. You don't have to worry about me." Yang replied to her sister, who she saw is actually beginning to slightly tear up.

"Something's up with you. I know there is. This sudden workout routine? Leaving the house often? What are you doing?!" Ruby grabbed Yang and shouted in her face.

"Calm down! I swear to you, Ruby! Nothing is wrong! Nothing is going on with me! Nothing bad is happening! Please calm down!" Yang pleaded as she proceeded to wipe Ruby's tears away. Ruby proceeded to lean on Yang, burying her face on her body and having muffled sniffle sounds. Yang felt genuinely sad, since she did lie through her teeth. She hugged her sister, quietly whispering into her ear that everything is going to be okay. And in the distance, Raven was there, watching from a tree branch in the distance. She could see the two embrace, and felt guilty, remembering when she left Yang and Tai:

 **14 Years Ago...**

 _"What do you mean, you're leaving?!" Taiyang shouted at Raven, seeing a dark portal open._

 _"My duty isn't here." Raven huffed out, her body only turned to the side, not even facing Taiyang completely._

 _"Your duty isn't with your child?! With your family?!" Taiyang screamed out, and as he did, Yang was heard crying from upstairs._

 _"My family is my clan. I can't abandon them." Raven coldly replied, as she gripped her sword, putting it back in it's sheathe._

 _"But you'll abandon your husband?! Your 2 year old child?! You're going to throw all of the years we had as Team STRQ away to fufuil your own goals?! What were we to you?! Tools?! Objects?! WHAT, RAVEN?!" Taiyang shouted, getting closer and closer to to his wife, his anger seething through his body._

 _"I'm sorry to do this to you, Tai. But I just can't do this." Raven shook her head, turning around to walk towards the portal. Then, in all of Taiyang's anger, it all came to a head with the final phrase he said to her;_

 _"You're a coward." Taiyang hissed, his teeth grinding, and looking at Raven with pure hatred in that moment. Raven only turned around, her crimson red eyes glaring Taiyang down from what seemed like a canyon's distance apart. She put on her mask and walked through, and disappeared.  
_  
 _And in that moment, Taiyang was alone._

 **Present...**

"I am a coward..." Raven thought to herself. She then got off her branch and flew away.

Another 3 days went by. A full week has passed since Raven and Yang had spoken to each other. In the meantime, Yang and Ruby had been going to classes during the day, Taiyang was still drinking himself to sleep, and overall things around the house became unfortunately quiet.

That is until Yang got a text.

Yang was shadowboxing in her room, keeping her right hand close to her face while she slightly extended her left arm. She threw out a left jab, followed up by another left, and another, then finally a low right hand. Yang envisioned her opponent, seeing bit of a figure, or at least she tried to envision one. Yang felt her low blow's impact. At least she felt the power behind it. She back stepped and exhaled, dropping her fists. She walked over to a hand towel on her bed, and she wiped off her head, since she had worked up a little sweat doing that workout.

Yang reached over to her Scroll and saw that she received a message from an unknown number. Yang was skeptical at first, when she saw the name of the messager but quickly that left her and it was replaced with confusion.

"Yang, meet me at the same bar I first met you in. You know the one. And the drinks are on me. My treat."

Yang groaned, not really wanting to deal with Raven's crap at the moment.

At around 8 o'clock that night, Yang got on her motorcycle and drove down to the bar Raven mentioned. As she left, Tai watched from his window as Yang left the house. He looked at her suspiciously, not approving of her choices now. He was getting more and more concerned and suspicious of Yang as time went on. But that didn't matter to Yang right now. She was her own woman, and she wasn't going to listen to what Tai said. At least not as much as she used to.

Yang drove around until she parked in front of the bar and walked inside. When she walked in, she saw various people sitting around, being served beer and various food, such as burgers. Raven's choice of word, being a "bar" was inaccurate. It was a pub. Yang found Raven, sitting alone at the counter, her finger playing with the edges of her glass. Yang slowly approached her, and sat next to her mother.

"Strawberry Sunrise. No Ice." Raven called for Yang's order before Yang could even say a word.

"And don't forget the umbrella." Yang added onto Raven's order.

"...What the princess said." Raven added to her order. Yang huffed, not making any comment. The bartender slid down Yang's Strawberry Sunrise, which she caught just in time. She took a sip from the straw and it felt soothing to her throat. Yang stayed silent, waiting for her mother to initiate the conversation. Which she did.

"...You ever heard of Pyrrha Nikos?" Raven's expression did not change, she simply continued to stare at the mahogany table.

"No?" Yang looked at Raven with confusion, not knowing who this "Pyrrha Nikos" is.

"She's the runner up for the Middleweight Women's Championship belt. Thought you might want to see a matchup of hers."

"And that will help me...how?" Yang ignorantly stated, before getting a massive sigh by Raven.

"Watching other professional fighters will give you tips on how to fight better. Thought you might want to know how, since your last match wasn't really a win." Raven huffed, taking a sip of her drink.

"I won that fight, Raven!" Yang protested.

"Like hell you did. You don't win by throwing temper tantrums and turning Super Saiyan. You win them by keeping your composure, giving your all, and hard training. You've got an instant win button. And if you use it, I ain't exactly going to be happy with you." Raven scolded Yang, giving her a valuable life lesson it seemed like she hadn't learned yet.

"Are you-"

"Shut up. They're about to turn on the fight." Raven pointed to the TV screen near the ceiling. Yang huffed again, placing her hand on her cheek. Yang rested her arm on the table and she stared at the TV screen, looking at the scenery. It was a packed stadium, much more packed than the ring she fought in, along with the lights being more bright, and there being many more of them. The ring was more clean; less run down and dirty. Along with it not being nearly as rowdy and crazy as Yang's ring.

The camera changed, now zooming in on a woman in a light red robe. The lights dimmed as music began to play. The lights shined on the woman in red, her face hidden as she began to hop on her feet. She inched her way to the ring, The woman threw out a few jabs, straight in the air and very cleanly. They weren't rough around the edges. How did Yang know? Raven was nodding her head in approval. Considering Raven knows as much as she does, she can tell that this girl knows her stuff. The girls was being trailed by three others, both looks much older than her, maybe in their thirties.

The girl made it to the ring, one of her companions opened up the ropes for her to step through. She did, and she removed her hood. The girl had bright red colored hair in a waist-length ponytail, curled slightly into a loose ringlet. Underneath her hair, she had a bronze circlet on, adorned with small, green teardrops on them. Her boots were bronze colored, and fit nicely colorize with the rest of her outfit, which was all red, from her sports bra to her gloves and trunks.

The crowd roared in approval, the crowd cheering for this girl to win. Soon enough, the camera focused on her opponent, another woman, maybe in her early twenties, walked down her aisle, wearing a blue robe, and wearing blue gloves. The exact opposite from the red-head.

As the woman approached the ring, her companions opened the ropes, and she entered. She removed her hood, revealing a woman with dark colored skin and dreadlocks on her hair. She jumped on her feet, breathing to herself.

The announcer came to the center of the ring, holding a microphone to his mouth.

"Llllllaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to the main event of the night! In the red corner, weighing in at 165 pounds, the current champion of the Women's Middleweight division, defending her title for 3 years now... Tisha... "The Beast" Long!"

Tisha raised her gloves into the air, letting the crowd speak for themselves, as many were hoping that she'd win this matchup tonight.

"And in the blue corner, weighing in at 163 pounds... the runner up for the Women's Middleweight division title best...being undefeated with a record of 23 wins and no losses, it's Pyrrha "The Javelin" NIKOS!"

The red haired woman removed her hood and raised her fist to the sky. The crowd roared in cheers, even out-cheering Tisha's fans, and there being a bigger uproar in the arena. Yang watched the TV screen, mesmerized by Pyrrha's fans and approval. She thought to herself, _'I want to be like that...!'_

Tisha, however, wasn't exactly fond of the crowd taking over her spotlight and huffed, annoyed with the audience. She wasn't exactly a good sport about things.

The female referee called the two women to the center. Pyrrha removed her robe and walked alone to stare down Tisha. Tisha did the same, but with a lot more built up anger. Tisha stared into Pyrrha's emerald eyes as the referee named off the rules they both had heard countless times. Pyrrha looked more confident and arguably to Tisha, more stubborn. When the referee had the two touch gloves, Pyrrha let hers out, giving a respectable tap. But Tisha wasn't having any of it and violently slammed her gloves onto Pyrrha's, leaving Pyrrha in surprise, and the audience in an uproar against her. Tisha huffed, not caring what she or the others thought of her at the moment, and simply walked back to her corner to receive her mouthpiece.

"Man, what a dick..." Yang commented, drinking some of her beverage and watching.

"Shh." Raven annoyingly said.

Back in the arena, Pyrrha returned to her corner and received her red mouthpiece. She clenched it into her teeth and gritted them. She jumped on her toes to build up a minor sweat.

Tisha received her mouthpiece and pounded her gloves together violently. She turned around and shadowboxed, but she was getting booed by the crowd. The crowd REALLY did not like Tisha's jerkiness during the glove tap. But, that didn't matter now.

 ***DING!***

Tisha came out swinging the second the bell rang, almost skipping out of her corner. She ended up getting Pyrrha trapped in her own corner for the first few seconds. Tisha threw out four jabs, all aimed for Pyrrha's head, but Pyrrha had enough good reflexes to dodge the jabs. Pyrrha snapped out a lightning fast jab back at Tisha's head, snapping her head back slightly. Pyrrha inched her way out of the corner, throwing out lighting fast jabs to keep her opponent at bay. Tisha didn't just let herself get hit, though, she also attempted to swing her own hits, however, Pyrrha kept weaving in and out, slipping in jabs from all directions.

Once Pyrrha got herself out of the corner, she began slipping to the side and getting in some hooks into Tisha's side and abs. Meanwhile Tisha herself could barely get a single hit in! She started to growl in annoyance, as Pyrrha didn't even have a scratch on her yet. Tisha hissed, screaming as she began to lose her cool; throwing out wild but sloppy right hooks for Pyrrha's cheeks. This didn't phase the red-head as she simply ducked underneath them and punished her with throwing various punches to her abdomen. Pyrrha's plan was to wear down Tisha and then finish her off with some powerful uppercuts while staying decently out of range.

The two found themselves in the center, and Pyrrha was destroying Tisha's body, slamming her around with various punches from all directions. Tisha had enough of this and stepped in a little to close for comfort for Pyrrha and launched a powerful uppercut into Pyrrha's abdomen. Pyrrha winced and puffed out some air, folding over due to the punch. But Pyrrha wasn't going to stand there. The red-head, with her hunched over state, began to throw hooks into Tisha's sides. Tisha weezed, puffing out air with each hit. The crowd was roaring out, they were both getting in massive blows within the first round. Heck, if it goes well, one of them might even get a KO in the first round and end it right there!

Pyrrha got off of Tisha, and continued to land fast jabs on Tisha's head. At this point, Tisha's eye began to swell up as did her cheeks. Her puffed up head made her get even MORE annoyed, as she finally began to throw out more sloppy hits.

While Yang was watching the fight unfold, Yang simply looked at Tisha and thought to herself, 'How is this girl the champion?'

Pyrrha began to throw out a volley, slamming blows into Tisha from multiple sides. Now Tisha began to feel a lot more sluggish, her body couldn't keep up with Pyrrha's speed and aggression. Tisha ended up moving forward to clinch Pyrrha, with the crowd in another uproar. Tisha only clinched to get some free body shots in Pyrrha, since she couldn't do anything by herself. She dug into Pyrrha's abdomen, which seemed to be made of steel. She kept hitting until the referee went in to break the two up. Pyrrha didn't seem phased at all, and she continued to show dominance by jabbing Tisha's face with ease. Throwing jab after jab at Tisha, until Tisha began to stumble backwards. "The Beast" found herself on the ropes, and just barely raising her guard, she was trying to stay up until the end of the round. She had 15 seconds.

There was no way she was going to stay up. Pyrrha had made her advance, and began to let loose her more powerful attacks. She began throwing left and right hooks and uppercuts, jerking Tisha's head all around the area. Sweat beads flew off both women as they kept fighting. Pyrrha then stepped backwards. She gripped her glove tightly. Her eyes widened, focusing on Tisha's head. She readied herself, and stepped forward with her left foot. She bent her body, and threw forward a haymaker right for Tisha's forehead! Pyrrha looked completely emotionless as the blow came closer and closer towards Tisha. She flung her glove right for "The Beast's" head, and it collided in an explosive blow that shook the entire arena! When Pyrrha removed her glove, She found Tisha's eyes had rolled up into her skull, and that her nose began to drip blood. With Tisha's guard completely down, and her consciousness fading, She fell to her knees and hit the mat with a loud thud, her head colliding with the floor first.

The crowd screamed at the top of their lungs. Pyrrha had knocked Tisha, the Champion, out in one round, with almost little effort! Yang herself was in shock, in how Pyrrha was able to have such an easy time taking down this girl! Was it the training? Her style? It had to be SOMETHING. Pyrrha backed up, as told by the referee and the referee began the count.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"THREE!"

"FOUR!"

"FIVE!"

Still no response from Tisha.

"SIX!"

"SEVEN!"

"EIGHT!"

"NINE!"

"TEN! YOU'RE OUT!" The referee shouted into the air, making a hand motion and declaring Pyrrha the winner by pointing his hand towards her. Pyrrha smiled and was approached by her team, congratulating her and happily cheering her on.

Later, after Tisha woke up from her knockout and got attended to slightly, Pyrrha and Tisha came to the center to announce the result.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner, by knockout in the first round at 1:53, Pyrrha..."The Javelin" Nikos!" The referee raised Pyrrha's gloved hand into the air, as the crowd cheered in approval of this new champion. The Middleweight belt was wrapped around her waist, and Pyrrha raised both hands into the air. She began crying tears of joy. But she wasn't done. The announcer held a microphone to Pyrrha's mouth.

"Miss Nikos, what is your next move? Will you stay as champion, defending your title, or will you move on to other things?" The announcer asked. Pyrrha sighed, wiping her eyes, and responding with,

"I plan to move to the Heavyweight title...then to the world Heavyweight title! I know I can make it there!" Pyrrha exclaimed into the microphone.

And with that, the TV screen changed to the commentators on the match. Yang was looking at the TV, still mesmerized by what had just happened. She didn't even get through half her drink, because she was so enveloped in the match!

"So? What did you think?" Raven finally spoke up.

"It was awesome! Pyrrha handled that girl so effortlessly! How did she do it?!" Yang ecstatically said, enthralled by Pyrrha's skill in the ring.

"Good, try and start watching clips of other fighters and see if you can pick up anything on their movements, punches, etc." Raven left a couple pieces of lien on the counter, and got up. "Just don't get too into the fights, you need to watch them to understand new things." Raven said as she walked out of the bar and left Yang alone to finish her drink.

The next day, Yang had to go to school. She had to deal with people again. Yang groaned when she reached her school. She and Ruby both walked into their classes feeling sluggish and annoyed that they even had to be there. Yang in particular didn't want to, since she wanted to continue training. But, she had to, and she did.

And about halfway through the day, she wasn't focusing. She was already losing interest to continue on without sleeping. But she pressed on, and in-between classes she was walking around, not noticing what was in front of her when she ran into someone. She and the other girl fell to the floor, and dropped their books and backpacks.

"Ow..." Yang groaned, clutching her back.

"Watch where you're going!" The other girl annoyingly screeched.

"Jeez, I'm sorry!" Yang looked at the girl and stopped herself for a second. The girl who she bumped into looked familiar. "I'm sorry..who are you again?"

"Hmph. My name is Weiss Schnee."


End file.
